Dragon's Love with Dangerous Letters
by 2-Dragon-Slayer-2
Summary: The children of the royal families are said to have dragon slaying magic. I never thought a poor girl like me would ever meet people like them but to think it only took one very dangerous letter to put me in a crazy love triangle with two of them. (NatsuxOCxSting)
1. Chapter 1

_**No one knew how it happened but one day the children in the royal families gained magic, magic to slay dragons, dragon slaying magic. I've never laid eyes on them and I never thought I would but who knew one little letter could get myself so involved with them.**_

* * *

It was finally sunny out. The kingdom of Magnolia was finally out of its gloomy hole of rain that had kept coming down for that past week. Everyone was out and about celebrating and preparing for the festival that had been delayed due to the rain. Banners were strewn between gaps of houses downs tons of streets with each holding a dragon either being red, green, blue, black, white, yellow, or purple, and lampposts were covered in flowers of those specific colors as well. People from each edge of the small country had worked hard to put all of it up since the crack of dawn for this festival, a festival meant to celebrate the dragons and the children in the royal families who hold dragon slaying magic. This year's festival was meant to be extra special though because the children who held this dragon slaying magic were said to be coming here to Magnolia themselves just to celebrate. Everyone was in high spirits for it, well almost everyone.

A girl living on the poorer side of town wasn't all that excited for this festival like her dad and everyone else. She would have rather enjoyed the rain's company a little longer unlike everyone else. She knew that since the rain was gone it meant that she would have to go back to working long shifts and leaving her father at home. It wasn't something she liked to do, leaving her father, not since the incident with her mother ten years ago when she was only eight. Leaving anyone she cared about was just not ok with her.

Staring up at the medical sign hanging above the rough wooden door the brunette made her way in and stalked over to the pink haired woman behind the counter. The woman lifted her head to see who it was, not a smile or a welcome coming from her since she wasn't one to be fond of other humans.

"I thought I told you not to come today Artemis, did I not? It's a special day, one not to be ruined by work no?" The pinkette inquired.

"You know I need the money Porlyusica. My father and I are running low on food and need more money to get more." The girl replied placing her small brown bag on the counter.

"Very well, the only thing I had planned was to decorate the building. You can start pulling things from the bag over there and place them as you please, oh and I do mean to decorate it inside and out." Porlyusica pointed out vanishing to the back.

'For someone who wanted me to take a day off she sure is putting me to a lot of work' Artemis grumbled inwardly. Then again if she knew Porlyusica well it was probably a punishment for disobeying her and showing up today when she should be home with her father, which of course is where the brown-haired girl would love to be if her father hadn't forced her to come here.

Letting out a sigh since she knew she'd never win, Artemis pulled out two banners from one of the bags that held decorations, one holding a red dragon and the other a white one. She dragged them outside along with a stool she would use to reach the tops of the windows and some tacks to pin them up with. Each one hung above each window, the one with the white dragon on the left and the one with the red dragon on the right. Artemis thought it looked well enough and presentable but I guess someone passing by didn't exactly agree with her.

"You think it might look better if the banners were switched around?" A curious voice sounded from behind her.

Artemis climbed off of the stool and looked behind her, her olive toned eyes spotting a young man standing there with his forefinger and thumb pressed against his chin. A fluff of pink rested upon his head and his eyes were like onyx stones that held wonder as he stared at the two banners that were hung up moments ago. Artemis found his clothing rather odd for it looked like nothing sold here in Magnolia and it appeared as if it was made of very high quality materials that Magnolia didn't have at its disposal either.

"Really I think they'd look better if hung the other way since the dragons are facing away from each other wouldn't they look better if they were facing each other as if they were fighting? I think it make it look more interesting don't you?" He asked Artemis once more while finally fixing his gaze on her and showing a warm smile.

Artemis didn't answer but backed away to look for herself. The boy was right, they would've looked better if hung the other way. Making her way over to the stool she climbed on it once more and took down the banners from where they were before switching their spots like the young man had suggested. When she finished and backed away se found the boy giving her a satisfied smile.

"I told you it'd look better!" He beamed walking closer.

"Not to be rude but who are you exactly? You don't look like you're from around here." Artemis stated and pointed to his clothing.

"I'm not actually. I live in the kingdom next door and came here for the festival you guys hold here. I'm Natsu by the way, Natsu Dragneel." He replied and stuck out a hand.

"That explains the clothes. Artemis, Artemis Elise.", the brunette informed him and shook his hand," Thanks for the advice by the way. I'm sure Porlyusica would have told me to do that too anyway."

"No problem! Hey I'll help you if you want. I've got nothing else better to do until later this evening so I'm free to give a hand." The young man, Natsu, offered.

"You don't need to do that." Artemis told him while turning to head back inside for more decorations.

Rushing over to the door to hold it open Natsu smiled and replied with a, "Well I want to so I will."

Artemis was bewildered with his persistence and urge to help. Usually when someone from another kingdom came to Magnolia they never really asked to help anyone they may have seen struggling in the streets, technically they looked like they enjoyed watching them struggle especially those who looked extremely poor just like Artemis herself. Having this done for her was really rare so she shut her mouth and accepted the help the pinkette gave her.

He was a cheerfully one she had concluded but was rather dense too though Artemis was used to it due to the denseness that occasionally wafted from her friend Gray Fullbuster who lived only a few houses down from where she did. Natsu kept smiling as he worked and assisted Artemis in her work, that flashy grin never faltering even when he had made a mistake in putting something up. While working Artemis managed to learn more about the boy than just his name as well such as the fact that he had came from the kingdom that lay north of Magnolia called Pyre.

Artemis never knew much about the other kingdoms and when Natsu seemed to figure that by the way she acted he began to tell her all about it like he was some proud historian who had been working to learn everything about it himself for the past couple of years. He told her about all of its festivities and the way it looked. He rambled off his favorite stores and restaurants he had visited thus far into his life and all of his favorite foods from each place although that information didn't matter much to Artemis. The thing that Natsu seemed to explain with more pride than anything though was the castle and the king of his kingdom. He kept repeating how amazing their king was and how kind he was with everyone and described in every detail to the best of his ability the castle in which that king lived. If Artemis had to guess she'd say that Natsu might even be related to this king with the way he described and knew so much about him.

"Your kingdom sounds wonderful." Artemis hummed after the excited boy had ceased to speak.

"Maybe I can bring you to see it sometime." He suggested reaching up to hang a pot of red flowers underneath the banners.

"I don't have the money to travel to such a place." The girl replied and let out a dry chuckle.

"No need to worry about little things like that! I'll take care of that for you but really if you ever want to come I'll take you." Natsu insisted.

"You're persistent." The brunette sighed.

"My dad says that often." He snickered and backed away to look at their work, "Looks great!"

Artemis took a step back to see for herself. In all the years she's had to decorate this place she had to admit I never looked better than this and she had Natsu to thank for it all. It also looked as if more banners and flowers were scattered among the wall than ever before, how that one was managed Artemis couldn't tell.

"You're right, it does look great. Thanks for the help by the way." She said and turned to face the charcoal eyed boy.

"No sweat! I didn't have anything scheduled at the moment so I though lending a hand would be nice." He shrugged and looked at the clock tower that peaked out above the shingled roof houses, "Oh no! I'm gonna be late! I guess time does fly when you're having fun doesn't it? You'll be at the ball being held at the castle here tonight won't you?"

"I'll check my agenda." Artemis replied.

"Well I hope you do come. I'll see you later Artemis!" The boy shouted over his shoulder, his figure disappearing down the cobble-stoned street.

After Artemis couldn't see a single inch of the young man she slipped back inside where she was met with Porlyusica who had been peering out the window behind the counter. Normally Porlyusica wasn't one to pry into what Artemis would do, actually into what anyone would do, so it confused her as to why she was looking through the curtains where she and Natsu had been previously standing.

"Porlyusica?" Artemis questioned the elder.

"I don't mean to be rude Artemis but who was that young man helping you?" The said elder asked letting the white curtain slip from her hand.

"Oh that was Natsu Dragneel. He said he was from the kingdom north of here called Pyre and came down to celebrate the festival. He insisted on lending me a hand." The brunette simple answered.

". . .Very well. You still have the inside to do before you leave for the day so get to it if you plan on having any time before tonight's festivities." The woman monotonously said before disappearing to the back once more.

Grabbing the last bag set on the floor Artemis proceeded to pull out sealed flower pots and place them randomly, the ball that Natsu had mentioned still running through her mind.


	2. Chapter 2

After that long day of decorating, Artemis began to make her way home where she had been longing to go since she arrived at Porlyusica's clinic this morning. To think she was this tired and still had to go to the ball tonight, Artemis was afraid she'd pass out in the middle of the dance floor if she went. Maybe if she were to run into that boy, Natsu, later she could explain to him her reasons for not going so that she could take a shower and crawl into bed once she arrived at home.

Many people greeted Artemis as she passed, most of them being men that were coming home from work. Not many women on the poor side of Magnolia would take jobs for the sake of looking after the children since they couldn't afford babysitters but in Artemis's family she had no choice. Her father wasn't capable of working, not anymore anyway since the incident with her mother all those years ago. He had broken his leg trying to protect Artemis and her mother from soldiers in another kingdom that tried to infiltrate Magnolia back then, Artemis was at least thankful that no more soldiers had past the kingdom gates after that day. After that her father lost his ability to walk right so he couldn't work thus leading to Artemis having to work once she was old enough.

Greeting the last person on the street Artemis finally stood in front of the door to her home. It was little but cozy, good enough to fit her and her father. One of its windows were boarded up, the cause of this being when her dad tried to attempt carrying something he shouldn't have with his leg. The shingles on the roof were dark, an almost black but brown when the light hit them. You could also spot the light blue curtains on the other sides of the windows, each window having a row of golden flowers hanging from them on the outside. The inside wasn't so bad either, a table sitting in the middle of the floor when you walked in accompanied by three chairs, one being vacant for some time now. The kitchen sat off to the side in a small area through an archway, a closet door sat on the wall opposite of where the kitchen was to the back of the room. A narrow hallway peaked out to the back of the house on the wall next to where that closet rested. Three doors sat on the walls, one on the left and the other two on the right, one being their bathroom, another Artemis' room and the last one her father's.

Artemis's room was nothing special. Blue curtains hung in the windows and a desk sat in the far left corner, papers that were meant to be letters scattered upon the oak wood with a quill pen on top. Her dresser sat against the right wall at the end of her bed that was covered in gray and white sheets, on her bed was something red with white gloves strewn a crossed it. Artemis dropped her bag by the side of her bed and gingerly grasped the white gloves and the small strip of paper that was there with it as well. Scanning her emerald eyes over it she read only this:

_**Thought you might want to get out and go to the ball. Here's something for you to wear and I'm sure your mother would've wanted you to have it. Have fun sweetheart.  
-love, your father**_

The brunette really didn't get out much it was true but for her father to give her the dress her mother adored seemed a little much. Her fingers traced over the red fabric that made the dress, white jewels outlining the top of the chest area and the waist. Artemis could remember everything her mother said about this dress and how Artemis would look in it once she was old enough to wear it. To have that chance to wear it now, Artemis could just feel the joy bubbling within her.

Quickly emptying her bag, she carefully placed the dress and gloves into the bag and scurried out of her home. Artemis had a friend down at the dress shop who would help with the payments, her name was Lucy Heartfillia. They've been friends since the age of five but ever since Artemis started her job down at the clinic their time together just seems to become slimmer and slimmer.

Artemis found that blonde haired girl surrounded by dresses and a few tuxes at her work desk in the back upon arriving at the shop. She seemed frustrated as she looked through the varied colored clothing as she seemed to be looking for something, possibly time for herself to get ready for tonight.

"Lucy." The brunette called which startled the blonde.

"Artemis! My lord you scared me!", the chestnut eyed gasped while placing a hand over her heart, "Did you need something?"

"Sorry and yeah. My father lent me this dress but I'm sure this won't fit. Do you think you have time to resize it?" Artemis asked pulling her bag around to pull out the red piece of clothing.

"For you I'd give up all my time. Change and I'll get to work." Her cheerful friend gave a wink and gestured to the changing room off to the side.

Artemis took no time in changing knowing that she would feel bad if she took up to much of Lucy's time. The gloves that slipped over Artemis's arms reached up to the middle of her biceps, the dress almost fitting perfectly except for the top that was just a little loose. It took Lucy only a few seconds to realize what she needed to do to fix the little issue and once noticing this she told Artemis to stay where she was and vanished to go look for something, not that Artemis was planning on going anywhere in the first place.

It didn't take long for chocolate haired girl to become bored from waiting so deciding to waste the time it took for Lucy to return she decided to wander the store, her bare feet scraping the wooded floor. Dresses were the main item in this shop but tuxes could be found on the wall to the right of the shop. The curious teen had never thought of going there so letting that curiosity get the best of her she decided to go look at the tuxes the store had on display, little did Artemis know she would be bumping into someone there.

It was a boy, a teen about a year or so older than the pinkette Artemis had met earlier. His locks were golden and his eyes were like sapphires. A single diamond earring hung from his left ear and a scar resided above his right eye. His clothes were nice, a little to fancy for Magnolia just like Natsu's clothes had been. He stood there, his pools of blue scanning over the tuxes before looking directly at the green eyed girl herself. It took Artemis some time to realize that she had been staring back before she quickly looked away, a small pink coating showing her embarrassment.

"You don't happen to work here do you?" The blonde asked.

"N-No sorry." Artemis stuttered still trying to recover from her embarrassment.

"Sting, Sting Eucliffe." The boy said strutting over and holding out a hand.

"Artemis Elise nice to meet you." The brunette replied taking his hand.

"Artemis huh? Like one of those gods right?" He questioned.

"The goddess of the moon and hunting yeah.", She answered, "So you were looking for something? I may not work here but I come here often enough to know things."

"I was just browsing really. I'm not from this kingdom so I thought I'd see what kinds of things you wore. I live in the kingdom south from here called Sabertooth. You know the really weird one split in two and run by two kings equally, yeah that one." The male chuckled and scratched his head awkwardly as he explained.

"I've heard of it but I've never been there. My family is too poor to travel to other kingdoms sadly but one day I hope to see them all, especially PhantomLord where my cousin Celestine lives." The girl's grass toned eyes twinkled as she shared this information.

"PhantomLord? The kingdom at the edge of the continent? I heard that place is becoming a little more shut off from the rest of the world everyday." Sting stated.

"Erm. . .well I'll still go there one day no matter how hard I have to try!" Artemis determinably told him.

It was true that Artemis knew of PhantomLord's submissiveness lately. It also let her know why she hadn't revived letters from her cousin in a while but that wasn't going to stop Artemis from getting to meet one of her last living relatives.

"Okay then I won't get in the way of a girl and her determination that's for sure.", the sapphire eyed teen shrugged and held up his hands in defense, "Anyway if you do get the chance I hope you can come and visit Sabertooth. Try looking me up if you do and I hope to see you at tonight's ball."

With that the blonde took his lips to her knuckles and walked out of the shop leaving Artemis there with the task of finding two people in the ball's crowd tonight.


	3. Chapter 3

Artemis had never been to the castle before; to be honest she's been nowhere near its area. Having the ability to just stand there in front of it made her feel so small to where she was afraid to even go inside unlike those around her that were just striding through the doors like it was nothing. Those doors, sitting there wide open for all who came tonight were almost telling Artemis to walk through and that everything would be just fine.

Taking a deep breath, the olive eyed girl walked forward, her red dress gently scraping the ground as she did so and her red heels strapped around her ankles clicking against the ground. Voices swelled in her ears as she stepped foot into the ball room. A crystal dome filled the ceiling and corinthian style columns lined the ball room walls as white tiles litter the floor and were connected by diamonds of a shadowy color. It was breath taking, a sight almost no peasant girl had ever seen. The dancers in the middle are what made it all perfect, the way they moved so flawlessly and so perfectly in sync with the music. Artemis could only wish to be so perfect but knew that was only a fleeting dream. Nothing could ever be as perfect as what she saw, especially someone of her status.

When the song ended Artemis gave a quick clap before scurrying a crossed the room before the next song started. She was amazed at how well the violins and clarinets mixed accompanied by a piano and four flute players. Nothing could ever capture her attention so well.

"You really did come!" A voice so familiar had so happily exclaimed.

Artemis spun around, her dress moving with her, and locked eyes with those that were like the night sky. That strawberry fluff still making the young man stick out as clear as day. His clothing was changed to something even more elegant than what he had on before, the black and red in his jacket mixing well with the pure red undershirt and black pants that went with the extremely dark brown boots.

The female couldn't help but smile at the pinkette as he cheerily strutted slightly closer, his eyes wandering over her attire which most likely appeared to him a drastic change. His face could literally split in half from what Artemis thought due to the smile he was sporting.

"It's Nice to see you again Natsu." The brunette greeted and gave a faint nod of her head.

"You look amazing Artemis! Red looks wonderful on you." The male complimented and held out his hand, "you mind dancing with me before the song ends would you?"

"Not at all." Artemis chuckled and willingly placed her hand in his.

Natsu led the girl out to the dance floor and placed one hand in hers and the other on her waist, Artemis's free hand resting on his shoulder. Slowly the two began to move and fell in sync with the music just like the other dancers. Artemis could feel her feet gliding a crossed the tiles with easy as the moved along with Natsu's. To the male it was as if she moved without a flaw and knew what to do without even trying to concentrate on it. The way she twisted and turned, not one mistake was visible to him.

When the music ended Artemis curtsied and Natsu bowed in return. He followed the emerald orbed girl over to the banquet table after doing so and watched her pour a drink. For Artemis she had never felt so joyful in her life, dancing with Natsu was something the young girl never experienced before and it made her feel as if she had to do it again.

"Where'd you learn to dance like that? You were really something." The pinkette stated grabbing a glass for himself.

"Nowhere special. As a little girl my mother would twirl me around the kitchen as we cooked." Artemis answered pressing the glass to her lips.

"We'll your mother must've been a really good dancer then for her daughter to move the way you do." A new and welcoming voice chummed in.

The female teen peered over her shoulder to find the young man she had met in the dress shop today. Next to Sting stood a new face, raven hair falling over his right eye, his other eye showing and glowing a devil red. They were both dressed as well as Natsu though Sting wore his clothes in white and the other in black. Artemis turned her body halfway to them and gave a greeting nod.

"It's nice to see you again Artemis. This is Rogue, he's also from my kingdom." Sting explained gesturing a hand to the male next to him.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Artemis Elise." She introduced herself to the male.

"Rogue Cheney." He replied in monotonous way.

"Natsu-San! You're here too." The blonde exclaimed finally noticing the male standing on the other side of Artemis, though the girl could tell an opposite emotion from his voice could be seen faintly in those pools of blue, jealousy maybe?

"Yeah and so is my father." The pinkette replied taking a sip from his glass, a tiny bit of irritation flowing off of him.

"Seems like the whole gang is here then." A rough voice butted in.

It overwhelmed Artemis with how many people were crowding her now, first Natsu, then Sting and Rogue, and now a new male taller than any of them, piercings running up his nose and replacing his eyebrows. His hair was just as dark as Rogue's but a lot more spiked and extremely long and his eyes held the same hue as the raven from Sabertooth. Artemis lost interest in the new male though when her olive toned eyes met with a blue haired teen that seemed like a leprechaun next to this new male. She knew exactly who it was and had been waiting for her appearance for some time. It was Levy Mcgarden.

"Levy!" The brunette squeaked before clasping a hand over mouth.

"It's been awhile Artemis. How are you?" The short female asked walking closer.

"I've b-been f-fine and you?" Artemis answered uneasily.

"Good, oh this is Gajeel Redfox. He's from the kingdom of PhantomLord." Levy informed the brunette, a little emphasis used on the name PhantomLord.

"O-Oh! It's nice to meet you I'm Artemis." She said for at least what felt like the hundredth time today.

"Well it seems like we all know each other now right?", Sting asked taking a glance at everyone surrounding him, "Good! You wouldn't mind dancing with me for this song now would you Artemis?"

"I guess not, no." The said girl replied placing her glass down.

Following Sting out onto the dance floor, Artemis couldn't help but to keep her mind in the blunette over by the banquet table who was now stuck between the two black haired males Artemis had just been introduced too. It looked as if they both wanted to be her dance partner and wouldn't let the other be the one to dance with her. The short teen didn't even seem to have a say in any of it even though she was like the rope in that little game of tug-o-war. Honestly if Artemis could she'd go and rip the girl away for herself but she didn't want any of them to wonder why she did it and she didn't want to be rude to Sting by just leaving him there in the middle of their dance. The brunette had been craving to see Levy for she knew what it meant, a new letter from her cousin, something Artemis hadn't received in so long. She loved hearing from her cousin Celestine who was basically raised by the blunette Levy herself and it was another reason why she would love to get out and visit PhantomLord when she got the chance and meeting Gajeel, it gave Artemis the idea to go back there with him.

It pleased Artemis when the song had ended. She tried to walk over to the blunette still being argued over as slowly as her patience would let her. Levy knew what Artemis was so impatient over so knowing that now was a good time to do this Levy excused herself from the two males and beckoned Artemis to follow. The place she found was rather private for them which was good. The shorter teen took no time in pulling out the envelope in which Artemis's fingers ate up right on sighting it. A red seal kept the envelope closed which made Artemis mad, another thing that kept her from her cousin's words.

"Don't open that until you're at home. You know how dangerous  
It is to receive letters from her because of her kingdom." Levy warned.

"I know. I won't open it until I'm locked in my room." Artemis replied gripping the envelope tightly in her hands.

With that Levy gave a nod and walked away. Artemis stood there for what seemed like a good hour, her eyes seemed as if they were burning into the paper. All the brunette wanted was to go home and lock herself away, all for the sake of reading this letter.


	4. Chapter 4

The young teen wasted no time in getting home after the ball. She shut her door and locked it and to make sure that no one came in Artemis even put the chair from her desk in front of the door. She shifted her clothes and dressed into something more comfortable before settling down on her bed, the letter in her hand since the moment Levy had handed it over. She took one of the butter knifes from the kitchen earlier and used it to cut open the seal placed on the envelope. Gently yet quickly the girl pulled the double folded paper out of its packaging and unfolded it. The script words filled the paper and the green orbs the girl bared quickly began to work their way over the paper.

_**Dear Artemis,  
I know this might not get to you for some time. I know that communicating with you is tough. It's been getting even worse as the days go on. Our real king still hasn't been found and king Jose is still in charge until our prince becomes fit for the task. Working at the palace isn't such a blast like usual. I don't want to get you down with life here though so ill just get to the good things. The prince has still been better than Jose and of course still has that crush on Levy like usual (still never admitting it, Gajeel can be like that though heh). Anyway. . .I do hope to see you sometime in my life, soon if anything. This place. . .it's terrible. Jose he. . .he tortures those he thinks are traitors. All I want is a life like yours. I hate it here. I can't take it. Artemis I want, no I need to see you. I need to get away. I. . .I can't bare this anymore. Please. . .Artemis when you get this and read it just burn it and any thoughts you have of coming here. I don't want any evidence to be found that may cause you harm. I love you and I hope to see you soon.**_

_**-Love your cousin, Celestine**_

Artemis couldn't help but be speechless at the letter she held. The shock she received from finding out that Gajeel was one if the royal children and held dragon slaying magic passed over as the brunette stared at the wet stains in the paper, her cousin's tears were all that she could conclude the stains were. It broke her heart to know and learn what Celestine was having to go through. It actually made her want to cry too knowing how terrible that kingdom sounded and if anything it probably wasn't the half of it.

Doing as her cousin wished she took the letter and held it over her lit candle upon her desk. She watched as each inch and word burned away slowly, the only thing of her cousin she had at that moment. Once the letter was gone from existence and its ashes were dumped away Artemis pulled the chair away from her door and put it back to where it previously rested in front of her desk. She took her quill pen into her hand and straightened out the paper on her desk. Quickly the girl wrote down all that had occurred in just one day, from this morning to now and ended the letter with what she planned to do, something that could possibly put herself and those close to her in grave danger.

After the letter was shut away in an envelope and sealed with the blue seal of her kingdom, Artemis slipped into a pair of leather boots and draped a cloak over her shoulders that was stuffed away in the depths of her closet. Quickly writing a small note the girl placed it on the ground in front of her father's door, this note letting him know what his daughter planned on attempting with her life at stake. Artemis may have hated leaving her father and especially if it was leaving him under the circumstances of frightening him to death but the girl didn't want to change her mind. Seeing her cousin was something the Artemis was dead set on at the moment and nothing was going to change her mind.

Magnolia's streets felt more welcoming to Artemis than ever before with this death mission set in her mind. All the brunette needed was to find the short teen and the prince accompanying her earlier this evening at the ball. The task seemed extremely hard with how large this kingdom was but like some miracle the girl found the task easier than she had expected after she simply spotted the two wandering down the street she was on. Calling their names she hurried after them, the two turning to look at her as if she had two heads.

"Artemis? What are you doing? I thought you would've been in bed by now with how much you work." Levy stated looking at the taller female like she was crazy for still standing.

"I wanted to ask if you two were planning on going back to PhantomLord now." Artemis replied.

"We were and by foot. It should only take an hour from here actually. Why do you ask?" The prince of the said kingdom inquired, his arms folding along his chest as he never tore his gaze off of Artemis.

". . .I want to come with you. Let me come to PhantomLord with you."


	5. Chapter 5

After many arguments with Levy and many sighs and grunts of irritation from Gajeel, Artemis finally got her way with the two. It didn't matter how much Levy tried to warn the other female of the danger she was putting herself in Artemis was persistent to go, no matter what it took that girl was going to see her cousin and Levy couldn't stop her. She knew Artemis would never bother to realize that even Levy herself was in danger by just escorting the prince back to PhantomLord. That place accepted no travelers and if King Jose were to find Artemis and herself well the outcome wouldn't be very pleasant for the two teens.

Artemis was surprised at how close PhantomLord really was from Magnolia. If she would've know that you could just walk there sooner she would've gone to see her cousin ages ago instead of worrying about the money she would need to get here. Now here was something. The kingdom was surrounded by woods but just on the other side Artemis guessed would be the sea seeming's how cold it was getting and it was said that PhantomLord was on the edge of the continent. She wasn't even at the entrance gate yet but she could feel something disturbing close by. Levy didn't seem to take much notice to it but then again she has been here before since she's the one who came here often to basically raise Celestine and see Gajeel.

It wasn't long before the three caught sight of three flickering lamps just beyond the trees in front of them. Gajeel muttered something about a gate so Artemis assumed it was the entrance to the PhantomLord kingdom. It was intimidating really, nothing but metal outlining the very edge of the gate when the gate itself was multiply metal bars connected in a tic-tac-toe way. Four guards stood in front, two on each side of the entrance and standing like robots with their eyes glued into the darkness of the forest before them. What really caught Artemis' green orbs was the statue piece above the opening, a dragon's head with its jaws wide open and teeth showing in a threading way, the whole thing glimmered in the moonlight giving Artemis the ability to figure out it was made of sheets of metal.

Just looking at that one piece was almost making the female regret her decision but if she was this close to Celestine What was the point in just turning around now, although she knew that's what Levy, her father, and even Celestine would want when she found out. She could catch sight of the guards stiffening and moving at the sound of the three hitting the bushes nearby. All four immediately lowered their weapons upon seeing us, most likely due to Gajeel, and returned to their previous standing spots except the one inching closer to them.

"Your highness, it's nice to see you've returned." The guard said before looking over at the females in a rude manner.

"They're friends of mine. No need to fuss, I will watch over them. Open the gate now." The pierced male ordered sending a glare back at the guard.

"Certainly." The guard replied and turned to make his way towards the lever that opened the gate, a few things were mumbled under his breath that Gajeel had seemed to catch due to the intense glowering look he was giving.

Artemis watched the gate slowly rise up from the ground and click into place once fully brought up. The three guards who had backed off and continued to stand at their posts bowed their heads when the three past to show respect to their prince. The first road they were set on was a dusty one, nothing but dirt which was something Artemis wasn't used to since Magnolia had all cobble-stoned paths and roads. It was very dark to not even counting the fact that it was night time and the only thing that gave off light were torches that were suspended to the sides of the brick buildings. Artemis caught sight of people hiding out in alleyways, small bags being passed between them that couldn't have been filled with anything good, she spotted many men staring at the three of them, their eyes glued mostly to Levy and herself, and many more thing that she did not wish to speak of or hopefully ever see again. This place really did feel ominous to the brunette and she didn't even make it a good fifty feet into the kingdom yet.

Staying close to the blunette and the raven haired male accompanying her, she halted in her walking path when the other two did. They stopped in front of a building, one rather smaller than the others that had a sign reading "PUB" above it. Two torches hung near its doors and the windows were so dirty you couldn't really tell what was going on inside. Artemis turned to look at Levy who had done the same but never got a chance to ask why they were here for the blunette opened her mouth and spoke first.

"Artemis, you said you had a letter right? I'll take it to Celestine since I know my way around without being caught. For the time being you'll stay here at this pub and wait for us to return. I want you to keep your hood up on your cloak and not attract too much attention, trust me you wouldn't want that. Here I'll take the letter and when we return we should have Celestine with us if nothing goes wrong." The blunette explain while holding out her small hand for the letter.

"_If _nothing goes wrong?" Artemis questioned, her hand hesitantly stretching out to hand the letter to Levy.

"Just trust us Artemis. Now go inside and we'll be back as soon as we can." The shorter female ordered pointing to the door.

The brunette gave Levy a small hug and whispered for her to be careful before following her orders, putting up her hood, and slipping inside the pub. It was at least lighter in here than it was outside. Artemis could see the male and female she had just been standing with pass the dirt stained window-pane before disappearing from her sight all together. Sighing, the girl took a seat at the bar counter and asked the bartender for a glass of water. While waiting she looked around the pub, her green orbs scanning the whole room. Some of the men sitting at a table near her were rather creepy, their skin littered with tattoos and their ears covered in piercings making the brunette assume that this kingdom had a thing for sticking a lot of metal into their skin. The females who worked at this pub seemed overworked and tired just like Artemis was herself. They didn't just seemed tired though, they had something else expressed on their face and with the way they kept flashing glances at the two guards in the back that Artemis had just noticed, she knew what that other expression was, it was fear. The girl drew her brows together and watched one of the waitresses pass, which was when Artemis noticed them, the long scars along their sides that could be noticed due to the short tops of their uniforms. She tried to keep herself from inhaling so sharply from the sight; some of those scars had looked fresh too. Now she knew what Celestine had meant when she said this place was terrible, the thing Artemis didn't understand was why? Why did they have to suffer whatever gave them those scars? Then a thought hit her, what if Celestine herself had scars because of the kingdom's cruelty? The thought made the teen furious; she could feel the heat rise to her face due to her anger. If they had even dared to lay a finger on her cousin she would make sure they wouldn't have seen the day of light again.

"Here you are Miss, your water." The bartender said placing the glass in front of her.

"Thanks." She replied and turned away from the horrendous sight of the waitresses.

"Say, I haven't seen you around here before and this is the most famous pub in town. You aren't an outsider are you?" The bartender asked, his hazel orbs narrowing dangerously at Artemis.

Artemis didn't know how to respond. Levy had told her to lay low so answering truthfully would end in the worst circumstances but Artemis wasn't the best at lying either. No matter how she took this it wasn't going to end well and not answering was definitely out of the question because the man would become suspicious of her being so quiet. Then again acting as a mute might work.

"Hey, you have some speaking malfunction or something? I asked if you were an outsider." The man spoke louder than he had before, his patience slipping.

The waitresses roaming the room seemed to become fearful of the man's loud tone. They slowly backed away towards the pub's back room while the two guards sitting at one of the back tables stood to see what was going on. Artemis's heart began to race and she tried to use her hands to say explain to the bartender that she was mute or at least she was pretending to be. Her hands didn't seem to want to move, her entire body didn't seem to want to move. The brunette's worries increased as the guards began to come closer, the bartender was now yelling in her face at the top of his lungs still trying to get her to answer the question. She felt a hand clamp onto her shoulder and she looked up to meet eyes with one of the guards, a lump in her throat seemed to prevent her from breathing anymore.

"Hey you, answer the man's question. Are you an outsider or not?" The guard questioned, the hold he had on her shoulder tightening.

"N-No I'm not an outsider." Artemis immediately answered.

"Alright, what's your name then?" The other guard questioned.

Artemis was speechless. She had no way of answering this question and if they were asking for her name then they had to know all of the people around this area rather well which made her pretty well screwed. Gulping, Artemis tried to hide the necklace around her neck that read her name and that her mother gave her many years ago as she tried to figure out a new name for herself. The bartender unfortunately saw it and ripped it from her hand yanking her forward while reading the engraved letters.

"Here, her name is Artemis Elise." The man announced causing the eyes of both guards to narrow.

"That name isn't common here in this kingdom. Sounds like something from a kingdom up north. Artemis Elise huh? Yeah I ain't ever heard of you before." The first guard said yanking the brunette from her chair and pulling her arms behind her.

"H-Hey! Get your hands off of me!" Artemis snapped trying to wrench herself from the guard who was currently putting her in handcuffs.

"We'll let go of you don't worry. We'll just 'escort' you to our king first _outsider_." The second guard hissed, the word "outsider" rolling off of his tongue like venom.

Both guards shoved Artemis outside while she continued to resist. This only ended in her being hauled over one of their shoulders and being carried like someone who had a pair of broken legs. '_This cannot be happening'_, the girl grumbled in her mind hoping that Gajeel and Levy were just around the next corner and were going to save her. _'This is what I get for just wanting to see my cousin. Can my life get any worse?'._


	6. Chapter 6

She didn't know how long it took but by the time the guards had thrown Artemis to the cold stone floor of a cell there was small signs of sunlight shining through her cell window allowing her to faintly see the guards faces through the metal cell door. Her cheek was throbbing from making contact with the stone floor and her hands were still bound together by the handcuffs that had been tied on her since they left, well carried her from the pub. Artemis scowled at both of them and the one bared his teeth in return.

"You can stay in here for a little while. His highness will gladly see you shortly." The guard not showing his teeth to her said before turning and leaving, the other guard not too far behind him.

The teen listened as the two made their way down the hall, the door that let you access the rest of the dungeon closing behind them with a loud screech. Grunting the girl used her feet to push herself to the back wall that she planned to use to get herself onto her feet. Artemis felt the palm of her hands press against the stone wall as she used them like suction cups to pull herself up. Once achieving the goal of getting to her feet she didn't know what to do next. The cell door was locked, there were no holes on the walls that showed any signs if previous escaping, and the window in her cell was blocked by metal bars and even if it wasn't there was no way that Artemis was squeezing herself through it.

"There's no way of you getting out, I've tried to no avail." A soft voice murmured.

Artemis squinted her eyes in the direction she had guessed the voice to come from. In the cell a crossed the hall the teen saw the figure if a girl who looked almost the same age as herself kneeling on the floor. She had blue hair from what Artemis could see and a maid outfit fit over her body. The brunette walked closer to the door of her cell and saw that the girl looked abused and tired.

"Who are you?" Artemis questioned.

"J-Juvia. . . Juvia Lockser. Juvia is a maid here at the palace." The bluenette replied softly as if she were afraid to speak to loud and have something bad happen to her for it.

"Why are you in a cell if you're a maid here? I thought a dungeon was for people who commit crimes and stuff like that." Artemis said.

"Juvia doesn't remember commuting crimes no but she did upset his highness and had to pay for it so Juvia is stuck here in this cell for a few days." The girl answered squirming in what Artemis assumed to be handcuffs like hers.

Artemis didn't want to look away from the girl. She looked fragile the way she was, her kneeling position made it look like she was begging and her uniform was ripped in small places from what looked like a whip. That thought brought Artemis back to when she saw the scars on those girls at the pub. What human could torture so many people!?

"Can I ask you something Juvia?" Artemis paused and watched the bluenette nod her head before continuing, "Do you know a girl about my age? Her name is Celestine."

"Celestine! Juvia knows her very well. Juvia and Celestine are great friends because we both work as maids here. Do you know her too?" The teen answered quite excited at the mention of Artemis's cousin.

"Yes, Celestine is my cousin. That's why I came here from Magnolia. I wanted to see her for the first time in my life but I got thrown in here instead." The emerald toned eyed girl informed Juvia.

"A relative of Celestine? Juvia can see it, you two look slightly similar. You wanted to see her you say? Juvia is afraid that's a goal that could possible end your life now. His highness doesn't accept outsiders from anywhere unless they're a part of the royal families that have come to conference with him. We're all to think that everyone from the outside are nothing but our enemies. Though Juvia knows why Celestine knew so much about the outside and where she was getting those letters from. They were from you, Juvia remembers them now, and the one she let Juvia read was addressed from a girl named Artemis and Juvia thinks that's you."

"Yes that is me. Do you know where she is?" Artemis asked hoping the other teen would have the information.

"No Juvia is sorry Artemis. Juvia hasn't seen Celestine for the past two days since Juvia has been locked up in this cell for that long." The bluenette apologized.

"I see, it's ok Juvia, thank you." The brunette sighed taking a seat back on the ground due to the absence of a bed in the cell.

There was nothing else Artemis could do now. All she could hope for was that Gajeel and Levy found Celestine last night and that they were all safe, oh why was she worrying about them of course they're safe, Gajeel is the prince after all so what could go wrong? She had more important issues right now, like how she was getting herself out of this rotten cell.

Having nothing else to do Artemis sat against the wall watching the sun slowly pass her window. She guessed it was noon time by the time she heard the dungeon door being used again. Footsteps followed after the door's creaking and from what it sounded like they were heading right towards her and Juvia's cells. In only moments after there were the two guards from before and a man who she had never seen before standing outside her cell door, though with the help of his clothes and the headpiece called a crown upon his head it wasn't hard for Artemis to figure that he was in fact PhantomLord's king, King Jose if Artemis remember his name correctly from Celestine's letters. The guard to his right stepped forward and opened the cell door allowing the man to enter the small space before closing it behind him.

Artemis first impression of the king, she disliked him greatly. The smug look on his face made her face twist into an unpleased emotion. The look in his green eyes was of something vile and disturbing and Artemis felt it greatly. His hair that sat below his crown was very dark red hue almost black. Nothing about Jose looked right to Artemis and she wanted to be as far from him as she could at the moment.

"So this is the girl you found at the pub. What did you say here name was again?" The king asked tailoring his head a little.

"Artemis Elise sire." One of his guards answered.

"Artemis Elise, a very strange name for these parts indeed. I can already tell you're an outsider and my dear, we here in PhantomLord sadly don't take we'll to outsiders I'm afraid to say. From where have you come exactly?" He asked leaning down to get a better look at Artemis.

"I don't need to tell you." The teen spat at him very upset with how close he was.

"That so?", the elder of the two said before wrenching Artemis up from the floor by her cloak, "Now you listen my dear and you listen well, We don't let outsiders in and then let them leave, ever. That privilege is only for the royal families and sadly your clothes say you are nowhere near that social class. It would take a miracle for you to get out of here alive so I'll tell you now; you had better enjoy your last days in this cell because it'll be the last place you'll sleep."

With that Jose threw her to the floor, her face smacking into stone once more. The brunette let out a loud grunt that blended with the sound of her cell door opening and slamming shut again. She scowled at the man that held the same hue of eyes as her as he returned it before following his guards back down the hall.

"Hurry it up! I despise being in this filthy place and I must prepare for the royal families of Pyre and Sabertooth!" This was the last thing Artemis heard before the dungeon door slammed shut.

_'The royal families of Pyre and Sabertooth?'_ She thought. The next thing she remember before passing out from the pain was the pinkette and the blonde she had danced with at the ball just last night.


	7. Chapter 7

When Artemis woke up she was starving, she was thirsty, she was bored, her wrists ached from the cuffs, and she didn't even have the strength to think of anything else at this point. The golden rays of the sunset gleamed through Artemis's window telling her that night was just around the corner. She had heard some commotion coming from outside her window about an estimated two hours ago. Her guess was that the royal families of Sabertooth and Pyre had arrived at that moment but not even for five minutes did the noise last before everything became silent again. The brunette tried to strike up conversations with Juvia to relinquish the boredom that filled her but the bluenette only mustered three or four words for each reply she gave, maybe less. It was agony for Artemis to sit there for so long in one place and she only wished for a little time out of this cell, out of this dungeon! She didn't even care if she had two guards sticking to her heels the whole time, she just wanted out.

As if hearing Artemis's wish the dungeon door opened for the fifth time today and was followed by heavy and rapid footsteps. Two guards appeared new ones she hasn't seen yet and she watched as one opened her cell door and the other worked with Juvia's. The guard tugged hard on Artemis's cloak and dragged her out of the cell by her tied wrists, the other guard doing the same with her new friend. The teen felt as if they were in a hurry for something, in a hurry to get the two females to a new location though they didn't drag the two far from their cells. They took them just further down the hall where it was pitch black and anyone standing between their two cells couldn't possible see them. She felt a cloth cover her mouth and the green eyed teen tried to yell in protest though her cries were only muffled as were Juvia's sobs.

"I suggest you be quiet or his highness will make sure your life is cut even shorter than he has planned for you." The guard spat in her ear and roughly threw her to the floor.

She whimpered as she hit the floor _again_, she swore her cheek was going to be swollen for a good amount of time. Artemis didn't understand a thing that was going on. Why were they making the two of them sit here in the middle of the dungeon hallway where it was dark? Just what was going on? Still not understanding it Artemis heard the dungeon door open again followed by what sounded like five different sets of footsteps. After a few seconds of looking in the direction of where they were coming from five people turned the corner at the end of the hall. The first one she spotted was that revolting king that kept her locked up here. She scowled harshly at him even if he couldn't see the look meant for him. Behind him stood two men, both dressed extremely well.

The first one, the one to Jose's left was slightly shorter than the other male. He had red hair; it was like a blazing fire that matched his blazing eyes. Artemis caught sight of the small scar on his nose as well; it took the shape of an 'x'. He looked dignified and graceful; maybe even someone who could turn into an intimidating figure within a simple moment.

The same could be said for the other male's appearance. He had sapphire eyes and snowy white hair and he stood about a mere inch or two taller than the red headed male next to him. A crown not as flashy as Jose sat on his head though to Artemis it looked a little off, like it was a replica and not the real one. Compared to the red head the white haired male didn't seem to have any scars that were visible to Artemis. The big difference though, was that he seemed a little more serious then the male next to him.

Behind these two men were two teens. Now Artemis didn't need to ask who they were for she knew them rather well and they were the reason her eyes were so wide. Never, not once, did she think she'd find these two here right where she was trapped.

* * *

Natsu yawned and let his eyelids drop halfway over his eyes. He didn't really have any interest in being here in some dungeon; honestly he hadn't felt like coming to PhantomLord today in the first place. The pinkette would rather be off stuffing his face like the usual but nope, his father forced him to come here. He was at least glad he wasn't here alone and that Sting stood there with him just as bored as he though the blonde kept himself a little more composed.

Sting didn't want to be here just as much as Natsu, honestly he was forced to come as well because his father decided to come in place of Rogue's so he didn't have to come and Sting did. _'Tch! Lucky bastard'_. Sighing softly he kicked the ground with his foot and glanced over at the pinkette who let out another yawn before turning to set his gaze on Jose, Natsu's father, and his father.

"Like I told you there is no one here. If I were to have prisoners they would be in these cells since the ones I have back there aren't in any condition to be used." Jose explained while gesturing a hand to the other end of the hallway that was to dark for them to see a thing.

Looking down into that pit of darkness gave Sting a weird feeling; maybe you could say that something was calling him there. He shivered slightly at the creepy feeling and let it go though he could see that he wasn't the only one who seemed to have the feeling. Natsu was staring out into the darkness as well, his brows pulled together and a slight pout on his lips.

"Very well Jose you have no one here, surprisingly at least, wouldn't you say Weisslogia?" Natsu's father spoke up, his firelight eyes meeting the water-like one's of Sting's father.

"Yes it is surprising with the way you run things Jose." The bleached haired male responded, a harsh look being thrown at PhantomLord's king.

"Are you two trying to tell me how to run my kingdom?" Jose inquired rather rudely and defensively in Sting's eyes.

"Igneel and I would not tell you how to run 'your' kingdom no, but I would like it if you kept in mind that you were never originally supposed to be the king for you are just a step in until Metalicana returns or when prince Gajeel becomes married." Weisslogia replied taking a step forward and speaking with a cruel tone.

Jose froze and gritted his teeth. He knew all too well that both of these men had a way more power than he did and that was what he wanted changed. A step in king, it was something Jose just hated to the core. Of course Metalicana and his son Gajeel would come before him and that's what he planned on changing. He wanted power that as greater than anyone's even if it meant sacrificing so many lives even from other kingdoms.

"Natsu my boy we'll be taking our leave and retiring to our rooms." His father spoke curtly and turned to leave, Weisslogia behind him who had given his own son a look that had said the same thing.

The two boys were quick to follow their father's orders and rush off after them; their urge to leave was greater than when they came. Both Sting and Natsu personally didn't like Jose themselves for they thought he was too cruel for the kingdom's liking and trust them when they say that because he is. They both knew that Metalicana was strict himself but he wasn't crazy about it and he did show kindness and respect for those that he ruled over. It was just the problem that he had up and disappeared one morning when everyone woke up and he hasn't been heard of since and both of the males knew that Gajeel didn't really take that situation well. Jose just gave both of them a weird feeling crawling down their backs and they both knew that when they became the kings of their kingdoms they were going to do anything to get Jose off of his high horse, of course in a safe way that also protects their land. Though, at the moment the two teens were a little more focused on a different creepy feeling, the one from that dark area in that hallway.

"You felt it too Natsu-San, the feeling that something was calling you." Sting muttered trying to keep it between the two of them.

"Yeah and it was downright awkward. It felt like someone was staring at me." The pinkette muttered shoving his hands into the pockets of his jacket.

The onyx eyed boy continued to mutter to himself about the creepy feeling and basically dropped Sting from the conversation. The blonde took one last glance at the dark hole as they rounded the bend that lead to the dungeon doorway. It was then that his nose picked up a familiar scent, one that was sweet yet not to over done to where it was undesirable. He knew he had smelt it before and he remembered smelling it last night at the ball. The smell had been lingering on his hand all night after he had finished dancing but the thing was he had only danced with one girl so the scent had to belong to her, Artemis Elise, the brunette he met at the shop in the early morning before the ball. Question was what was her scent doing, floating around in a place like this?


	8. Chapter 8

Artemis's cloak was beginning to become useless in this cell. Her feet were freezing last night as she tried to spend another night in this stone cell. It also didn't help that what she had underneath was a light material spaghetti strapped dress. It was what Artemis had on when she quickly slipped from her home two nights ago. Her clothing hadn't been the first thing on her mind and she wasn't expecting she'd be locked up in a cell for this long.

Waking up at what she guessed was an early hour the brunette sat up in her cell, her back screaming in pain as she did. She watched the sun rise like she did the previous morning with nothing else to do. Finding a stone in the corner of her cell she tried to use it to break the chain that connected her cuffs. Not once had the guards thought or made a move to take them off every time they came to give her the small plate of food they served to their prisoners which lead her to shifting herself so she could bend over to grab the bread roll on the plate with her teeth. It ticked her off even more as she was forced to listen to the guard laughing at her as he watched her attempt picking up the bread. It made her want to sew his lips shut permanently.

"Artemis? Are you awake?" The voice of her blue-haired friend sounded from a crossed the hall.

"Yeah I'm up." The said girl replied still trying to reach her goal in freeing her arms.

"It's no use to try and break those cuffs. PhantomLord is known to have a good metal supply. There are mines nearby that they get it from and the metal they use to make these cuffs is made of the strongest metal they've found so far. Juvia is afraid that there is no way to break them." The teen still dressed in her torn maid outfit informed Artemis.

"That's just great." Artemis muttered to herself dropping the stone in her hand and giving up after hearing Juvia's statement.

Sighing, Artemis fell over and pressed her face against the cell floor. There was no hope in getting out unless by some miracle Natsu, Sting, or one of their fathers managed to come down here and find her and Juvia in these cells. The little show King Jose pulled yesterday was still irking Artemis greatly, the way he pretended that no one was down here in this dusty, dark dungeon. She didn't understand how the people who lived in this kingdom could just stand by and let all of this happen, how they could just watch all of the people here be tortured by their terrible king without making a move to stop him. She understood though that they could be scared to have the same fate be bestowed upon them but didn't they all realize that if they all stood up against him at the same time they might have a chance to stop him? It confused her and the more she thought about it the more enraged she became.

Pulling her from her thoughts the sound of the dungeon door creaked open and footsteps followed after like they did every time. Artemis pushed herself up onto her knees and waited until Jose and two guards who accompanied him stood right in front of her cell door. A deriding smile was decorating Jose's face as the guards unlocked her cell's door. Each one gripped one of her arms tightly and shoved her to her feet, the brunette stumbling forward so that she stood directly in front of the green eyed king.

"I hope you've spent your last two days in this cell remembering your life my dear because you're about to see the last few minutes of it." The elder sneered in her face which earned him a dangerously low growl from Artemis.

One of the guards came up behind her and picked her up throwing the brunette over his shoulder. She tried to kick and yell in protest not wanting to be carried like some five year old but none of them listened. Her green eyes flicked around wildly stopping and connecting with another pair of eyes that belonged to the bluenette. Artemis could see how nervous Juvia was as she watched them drag her away. Watching the teen scramble to her feet panting as she struggled Artemis was confused as to what Juvia could possibly be trying to do though what happened next wasn't what she wanted to hear.

"Stop! I'll take her place!"

Artemis widened her eyes and shook her head violently at Juvia. The guard carrying her halted and Jose turned making his way to Juvia's cell, the other guard following him. Juvia's cell door slammed open and the next thing Artemis saw was the bluenette slung over the other guards shoulder. She screamed at him to put her down but every scream was completely useless as they ignored her requests to leave the maid alone. They carried both girls to the dungeon entranced before sealing there mouths with cloths to keep them quiet. Tears slipped down Juvia's face and it was killing Artemis to see her new friend like that, so small and so scared even if it was her decision to try and help Artemis out of this mess.

The castle's décor helped to set the mood, dark halls, dark rugs, gray stone walls that had many portraits of Jose hung on each one of them. Artemis assumed that this guy was completely obsessed with looking at himself if he needed this many photos of him hung on the castle walls. It disgusted her and she scowled harder at each one that they passed. Making a turn Artemis found herself being carried down a smaller hallway, one that seemed to be hidden and what could have been awfully dark if it weren't for the torches suspended up on the walls. Artemis caught a glimpse of another photo but this one was more pleasant and had no trace of Jose anywhere. A man and a small boy stood next to each other, both with black hair and red eyes. The boy seemed grumpy and had a sour look expressed onto his face while the man looked dignified and stood proud, a silver crown upon his head which looked to be made of metal. His ears were pierced from top to bottom and metal rivets were scattered throughout his elegant outfit. Artemis had an instinctive thought to know who both of those people were. It was Gajeel as a boy and his father, the real king of PhantomLord who, if she recalled correctly, was named Metalicana. If only he were still here, Gajeel's father, then maybe Artemis and Juvia wouldn't have to be going through this, maybe even her cousin would have been allowed to come and visit her and she wouldn't have had to take this ridiculous trip. The brunette screwed her eyes shut at this thought as warm tears slowly rolled themselves down her cheeks.

It took another minute or so before they had reached the end of the hall. Artemis heard a door being unlocked and pushed open as her and the bluenette were dragged into a pitch black room. It took a few moments before a few windows in the back of the room were opened to let some light in. The guards dropped her to the floor harshly before following Jose to the other side of the room. There waiting was two more guards, one holding chains and a lock and the other a large axe who had the morning sunlight glinting off of it. Heart began to gain more beats per minute as she watched Juvia being carried closer to those chains and that axe. The brunette pushed herself to her feet and chased after them but her attempts were useless as one of the guards turned and picked her up once more preventing her from getting any closer.

"NO! She didn't do anything! Stop!" Artemis screamed this repeatedly after shifting her mouth out of the cloth hoping they would listen to her but the chances of that happening weren't very large.

"The girl decided to give her life up for you. It was her own stupid decision so now I'm going to have you watch as she dies for the sake of keeping you alive." Jose stated easily as if this were actually entertaining, but of course this would be for someone as sick as him.

The guard dropped Juvia and held her in place as the one holding the chains tied the around her and locked them in place. The bluenette locked her eyes with Artemis, a glint of happiness rushing through them as Artemis looked back. This left the brunette utterly confused. Why would she be happy when she was about to die, having her head chopped off by an axe for crying out loud! Artemis watched the guard raise his axe, it's currently clean blade glimmering in the sunlight innocently before it was swung down.

"JUVIA!"

_Splat!_

Artemis screwed her eyes shut not wanting to look at what was in front of her. She only knew the girl for two days that may have been true but she still cared for her. The girl knew her cousin, she knew Celestine and she seemed so innocent. Juvia didn't do anything to deserve this and yet her body sat their lifeless and headless. The brunette felt her tears stream down harder as she flung her head up and snapped her eyes open to scowl at Jose.

"You sick, heartless, and disgusting creature! You're not even worthy of being called a human! What you do to innocent human lives should be done to you instead! You don't deserve to be called a king!" She screamed, her rage that was bottled being let out all at once.

The teen felt a hand collide with her face, the hand of the guard who had been holding her back. She fell backwards at a quick pace and hit the back of her head against the stone floor. Artemis screamed out in pain and rolled herself to her stomach and tried dragging herself towards the door. The guard slammed a foot onto her back preventing her from moving as Jose angrily made his way to her probably with intentions of murder for what she had said but before that man even made it halfway to her she heard the door creak open telling her that someone new had joined them. Artemis's eyes met the figure along with the others who had been standing in this room, all except her dead friend up on the pedestal. Her eyes widened and three more tears slipped out, but they slipped out in relief this time as she saw who it was.

"What's going on in here?" The newcomer asked, his sapphire eyes meeting Artemis's emerald ones.

". . . Sting. . ."


	9. Chapter 9

Artemis's mind couldn't compute anything right now. The dark colored décor flashed by in a blur as she was dragged along the corridors and pulled up sets of stairs to landings. The only thing that she could clearly remember at the moment was her friend dying and Sting going on a rampage. His body glowing was still something that Artemis's mind was picturing; blasts of light had erupted from his mouth as well. He was royalty which meant he was a dragon slayer, that was obvious but the brunette was still in shock from seeing it herself.

"Of all the times for you to not attract attention it had to be now, dammit Natsu-San." These words dripped out of the blonde's mouth making Artemis blink and flick her eyes in his direction.

His face showed anger; His eyes were burning with it. The grip he had on her wrist felt just as harsh as those cuffs that he had broken off of her not to long ago. He flicked his head to both sides trying to figure out which corridor was best to go down. Hoots and hollers came from all directions and the whole castle was probably caught up in what was happening so it probably included Natsu, his father, and Sting's father as well. Artemis wouldn't have been surprised if a small portion of the kingdom outside of the castle knew about it. Guards had been down almost every hall they had tried to go down which forced them to change direction, it was also the reason that Sting had no clue where to go to find what he was looking for anymore which was the other pink haired dragon slayer who had came with him and their fathers.

"Sting they're-"

"Be quiet! I can't hear if you're talking!" He hissed with a cruel tone that he probably hadn't intended.

Artemis shut her mouth as quick as she had opened it and continued to watch his head turn. She swore if he had turned it any faster it might've turned in a complete circle. She didn't understand what he was even listing for anyway and even if she did know she thought it'd be a little impossible to hear it with all of the shouting coming from all directions, or of course Sting probably had supersonic hearing or something that she didn't know about.

Turning her head she saw a group of guards turn the corner, all of them instantly spotting the two and charging for them. She gasped and found herself being tugged down one of the corridors. Either Sting had finally found what he had been listening for or he knew that was a vital time to just pick a direction and run. The brunette stumbled over her feet trying to keep up with Sting's extremely fast pace so she didn't have to feel like she was just being dragged throughout this whole place. Her lungs were having a hard time with the lack of air she was giving them as she ran and her feet were screaming for her to stop although she would if she had a choice to.

"S-Sting . . . I need . . . rest." The girl panted hoping he would let her stop for just a few seconds.

"If you'd rather die than go ahead and stop to catch your breath. We're almost where we need to be anyway so you can catch your breath there." The sapphire eyed teen replied.

Artemis groaned and pushed herself to keep going. Sting pulled her down a few short hallways before one of them put them in a large room, almost like the lobby of the whole castle. Two set of stairs led up to a second level of the lobby that had corridors waiting to lead you towards the core of the castle. Three groups of guards spilled out of those corridors and hurried down the stairs after Sting and Artemis. Tugging on the green eyed girl's wrist Sting rushed out the large double doors that were the main entrance to the castle. Artemis saw two carriages waiting outside, one red and gold and the other white and silver. The teen spotted the pinkette they had been looking for all this time standing in front of the red carriage, his onyx stoned eyes widened at the sight of her.

"Where the hell did you find her!?" He questioned pointing a finger at the girl.

"She was in some hidden execution room. It's the whole reason why this chaos started in the first place." The blonde replied final stopping so Artemis could catch her breath.

"Ok now I'll ask you, how did you end up here?" Natsu asked turning his attention to the emerald orbed girl.

"I . . . I came to see my cousin . . . and Gajeel and Levy came here with me. They told me to wait in a bar but . . . the bartender realized I wasn't from around here . . . and the two guards who were there that night took me away because I was an outsider." Artemis explained leaning on her knees panting.

"How long has Jose had you locked up?" Sting asked, his breathing a little off as well while he spoke.

"He locked me up two nights ago." She answered while slowly standing up straight.

"Two nights!? Man that guy, I swear when I become king I'm gonna-"

Natsu's rambling was cut short by the castle doors being slammed open and those guards who had been shoving each other down the stairs came barreling out. They were shouting at each other, some shouting at the three to stay where they were. Artemis heard someone from inside the carriage to get in. Sting rushed over to the white one and climbed in, Natsu grabbed Artemis's wrist and yanked her into the carriage with him. He slammed the door shut and they were off in no more than three seconds. Artemis turned herself in her seat and watched the guards become smaller as the carriage pulled away, some of them had faces as red as apples for letting her get away. She sighed and slumped down in her seat a little relieved that they were away from that place.

"That was a close one wasn't it?" A rough voice muttered causing Artemis's eyes to fly open.

She was met with the man who eyes the color of firelight. He looked calm and didn't seem to mind Artemis being there at all. She knew that the man was Natsu's father which meant that he was the king of the Pyre kingdom. Artemis sat up straight and felt her heart beat faster, Natsu snickering at her sudden actions.

"No need to jump like that, you can relax I'm not like Jose I promise." The red haired male chuckled softly.

"This is my dad, Igneel. He's king of the Pyre kingdom!" Natsu explained, a proud ear to ear grin decorating his face.

"It's nice to meet you miss. . ."

"Artemis. . . Artemis Elise." The brunette whispered while slowly relaxing back into her seat.

"Artemis sounds like a name for a Magnolian. Is that where you are from?" Natsu's father asked her.

"Yes.", She answered,"Erm. . . Where are you taking me?"

"My kingdom!" Natsu exclaimed sitting forward in his seat.

"You're kingdom?" Artemis questioned.

"Yep! You're going to Pyre with me and my dad. Looks like I got to keep my promise to take you there after all huh?"


	10. Chapter 10

Twilight was the time of day when the pink haired male sitting next to Artemis announced that they had arrived in his home kingdom. The sunlight was scattered throughout the upper art of the sky yet the sun itself was just below the horizon to where it couldn't be seen yet it illuminated everything in the lower parts of the atmosphere. Both carriages had managed to slip past PhantomLord's gates on the way out; Natsu's father had muttered something about Sting's father probably lying to the guards about why they needed to leave so quickly so they could do so. Artemis was just happy to be far away from that place and if she remembered correctly Natsu had said that Pyre was north of Magnolia and PhantomLord was south of Magnolia since it lay on the coast of the continent so that meant she was far from the terrible abusive kingdom.

"Oh! I can take you there to eat Artemis! It's one of my top five favorite restaurants!" Natsu exclaimed pointing out the carriage's window to a nice building, a sign hung above it that read "8-Island" on it, "The owner, Yajima, is good friends with me and I'm sure you'll like him too! You'll really like the Ruby Parfaits he makes there!"

"I don't really get to eat out much and there aren't many restaurants in my part of town." Artemis mumbled thinking that it might be embarrassing to say something like that out loud.

"Oh that's ok! Then this'll be my treat and I'll show you around parts of the kingdom afterwards. Sound good?" He asked with that ear to ear grin upon his face once more.

"Relax my son, I'm sure you'll get time to do as you please with our guest but for now it's getting late so it'd be best to save all of that for tomorrow." Igneel chuckled raising a hand up to his son as if to tell him to slow down.

"Aww! But I don't want to wait until morning!" The charcoaled orbed boy complained and formed a pout like a five-year-old.

"Natsu." His father said sternly.

"Fine." The teen muttered slumping down in his seat and turning his head to face the window.

Artemis let out a soft giggle at his childish behavior, Natsu's father letting out a smile and Natsu's cheeks becoming what she thought to be a tone of pink. The brunette was finally feeling comfortable around Natsu and his father, she didn't feel as awkward or the need to be as quiet as she was anymore which was pleasing for Igneel to see. He knew about Jose's harsh ways and was glad he could help the young girl out of such a situation and it also happened to help that his son had already bumped into her, though he wasn't quite sure how that happened.

Though it was beginning to get dark out there was still enough light out for Artemis to see the castle in which Natsu and his father lived. It definitely had a more welcoming vibe to it than the castle back at PhantomLord. A garden that was being tended to as they past was set in front of the castle. Artemis spotted a group of kids, all girls, roaming around an area in the garden. All of them held bundles of flowers, one had a bundle of begonias, and another girl held a few gardenias, the third one flailed some lilies through the air, and the last little girl was still picking a few larkspurs from the bush all of them were standing by. They were laughing, every single one of them as they played with their bundles of flowers. It was heartwarming and honestly it was something that Artemis was glad to see after what she had been through.

"I told you before that I wasn't like Jose. Everyone in my kingdom is welcome to come and go in my castle as they please whether it is because they have a concern or even if it's a group of young girls wanting to play around in the castle gardens. I welcome everyone here as if it's their own home." Natsu's father explained when he noticed what she had been staring at.

". . . You're very kind you know." Artemis whispered, her eyes slowly moving away from the group of girls as they finished passing by them.

"That goes for you to Miss. Elise. You're a guest here now so you may roam the castle as you please and I know it is big so if ever need any help with directions you may ask one of the maids or one of our butlers to assist you." He told her, a genuine smile lighting his face.

"I'll keep that in mind. Thank you your highness." The female replied.

"Please, you can call me Igneel." He chuckled waving a hand in front of him.

"Ok . . . Igneel."

It took only a few seconds before they reached the castle's main entrance. One of the butlers was there to open the carriage door and greet them when they stopped. He seemed pleased that Igneel and Natsu were finally home from their trip and he assisted each one as they exited. Artemis sat there unsure of what to do as she watched the butler turn to her last and hold a hand out to her to help her out. She took it hesitantly and climbed from the carriage. Her bare feet hit the cobble-stoned walkway, her small leather boots she remembered had been left behind back in her cell at PhantomLord. The castle was beautiful compared to PhantomLord's or even Magnolia's back where she lived. The windows were lined in a gold pattern, some had balconies that jutted out but those one were mostly towards the front of the huge structure. Two guards sat in front of the beautiful double doors of the castle entrance, one to the far left and the other to the far right. Their features were a lot more personable and welcoming than the guards she had to deal with since two nights ago. They smiled at Artemis as she made her way up the small set of stairs following Natsu and his father and she faintly smiled back.

The inside of the castle was even more amazing to the brunette. There something like a lobby room when you walked in, a set of stairs running up the middle of the room a crossed the way with red carpeting covering them. The floors were made of smooth gray tiles, in the middle of the floor the tiles turned red and created an image, a red dragon circling the center of the floor and there were three maids were cleaning the small table stands that held flower pots and the stair railing. All three of them bowed their heads respectfully at Natsu and his father before continuing their work. Artemis stopped in the middle of the floor and stood beside Natsu as they both stood a crossed from his father.

"It is rather late. I'm sure that our cook will have dinner done shortly but for now I'll have one of our maids escort you to a guest room and I'll send another one with fresh clothing. I'm sure you're willing to take a shower at this point. I'll tend to some duties before meeting you in the dining room. Erza!" Igneel called, the maid cleaning the stair railing quickly obeyed and came over.

"Yes sir?" She questioned.

"Please take Miss. Elise to one of our guest rooms. I'll send Mira up there shortly with fresh change of clothes for her." He ordered.

"Very well." She replied with a bow before turning to Artemis," Come with me."

Artemis quickly followed after the scarlet haired maid who led her up the stairs. The floors in the halls up the stairs were covered in the same red carpeting. The walls were a cream color and paintings hung on the walls, some holding Natsu's father, others holding Natsu himself when he was younger and the way he is now. A random flower pot would sit on a small table in the middle of the halls Erza brought her down. The brown orbed girl stopped in front of a white door and opened it before gesturing that Artemis should go in first. The brunette did as so and was welcomed by a beautiful room. Two doors sat on the right wall which Erza quickly explained was a closet and a bathroom. The closet was apparently empty at the moment so that was the reason for the other maid arriving shortly with new clothes for her. A vanity was placed between those two doors and a bed was set to the left side of the room, white sheets spread out a crossed it while a good ten to fifteen white pillows rested at the head of the bed. There were four posts that were set at each corner of that bed so that red curtains could hang from them. Artemis saw that her room had a single door that looked like a large window; it led out onto one of the castle's balconies.

"Does this suit your liking?" Erza asked still standing in the doorway.

"It's nicer than my own room at home." Artemis chuckled.

"Do you not like that? I'll gladly change the room if you are not pleased Miss. Elise." The red haired female told her and bowed.

"No! No! It's fine really and you don't need to use such formality. Just call me Artemis alright?" The emerald eyed teen replied holding up her hands as if to tell the maid to relax.

"Erza are you in here?" A new voice chimed in as a new girl entered the room.

She was pretty just like Erza. She had white hair and ocean colored eyes. A bright smile lit her face and she held a few clothing articles in her arms. She made her way over to the bed and set them down before turning and bowing to Artemis.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Miss. My name is MiraJane but you may call me Mira." She informed the brunette and propped herself up straight again.

"It's nice to meet you too Mira but like I just told Erza you don't need to call me Miss. Artemis, Artemis is just fine." The female sighed tired of repeating herself.

"Ok then Artemis! His highness told me to bring you a few different clothing choices so you could choose what you wanted to wear. While you're in the shower I am to fill your closet with the rest he had me bring." The white haired female explained while gesturing to the pile of clothes she had just recently set down on the bed.

The girl dropped her ragged cloak to the floor, Erza walking over to pick it up immediately, and scanned the bed covered in clothes. Most of it fancy dresses that didn't suit Artemis very well. Anything simple was what she liked and luckily there was something that suited her liking among the clothing articles. A plain white dress about knee length with cape-like sleeves that lined the top edge of the dress and would wrap around a person's arms stood out as the simplest dress in the whole pile. Artemis picked that one up and turned to make her way to the bathroom, the other dresses laying there unwanted.

"That dress huh? You're different from most female guests that come here. All of them usually pick the fancy ones but you picked a simple one. At least we know the prince will get along well with you. He likes those who are different." Mira stated while quickly gathering the untouched dresses to put them in the empty closet.

Artemis stopped walking and looked over her shoulder to Mira. A warm smile lit hit face even after saying something like that. Natsu liked those who were different. Was that something that was necessary for Artemis to know or was Mira just saying that for different reasons? The brunette felt her face slightly light up at that thought and she quickly turned back around to finish making her way to the bathroom, her shoulder bumping Erza's as she did.

"Sorry Artemis. I've started the bath for you." The scarlet haired girl informed her before leaning closer to whisper in her ear, "Oh and don't mind stuff like that when Mira says it. She always loves to test her matchmaking skills on the prince."

That statement added to the fierce blush crawling over the embarrassed teen's face. Artemis rushed herself into the bathroom and basically slammed the door shut. Both maids could be heard laughing from the other side of the white door while she hung up her dress on a hook suspended on the wall. She pulled off her dirty sleeping gown she had been wearing for the past few days and slipped into the bath tub, the warm water welcoming to her aching back muscles. Artemis's spine wasn't very good since birth which caused her to develop back problems and sleeping on a stone cell floor didn't help those problems. She took her time in her soothing bath wanting to clean herself well and enjoy the warmth. She climbed out of the tub about an estimated half an hour after she had climbed in and dried herself off before pulling on her new dress. It fit around her securely and she liked that there was nothing covering the dress, no jewels or designs, just a plain white fabric.

Stepping out of the bathroom the steam that had accumulated in the small room from the water rolled out onto the floor outside. Mira was still sorting all the clothes into her closet and Erza had seemed to have left wheelie she was in the tub. After hanging up the final dress Mira closed the closet and turned to Artemis. The white haired female made her way a crossed the room and took the old nightgown from the brunette and placed it on the bed. She pulled out the chair in front of the vanity and gestured for Artemis to sit which the girl obeyed. Mira took her time to blow dry and curl the brown locks of hair that fell nicely over Artemis's shoulders after she was done. She also took her time to pick out a nice pair of shoes to match what Artemis was wearing and after a good ten minutes of looking she found a pair of open toed white heels that had straps forming an 'x' over Artemis's toes and a strap hugging her ankle. They were simple just like the dress which pleased the brunette wearing them.

"You look beautiful Artemis." The maid told her while looking the teen over.

"Thanks to you Mira. The last time I looked like this was when my mom dressed me up for a party I attended at the age of five." The green eyed girl chuckled.

The two were so caught up in their conversation that they didn't realize that they had someone new join them. It startled Artemis when she saw the black orbed teen standing behind Mira and it scared Mira herself when she turned and saw him too. The pinkette smiled and apologized for scaring the two before Mira bowed to him and took her leave which left Artemis alone with the prince.

"Dinner is waiting doing in the dining hall. My father wanted me to come get you personally and it looks like you just finished getting ready too. Well you coming?" He asked holding out his arm for the girl to take.

She nodded her head and hesitantly wrapped her hand around his arm. He led her out of the room and back the way Erza had taken her to get there. She felt a little awkward been near him compared to the other times she had been around him, the whole matchmaking statement from earlier being the reason. Natsu just carried on like everything was fine, even though for him it was, and gave her a warm smile.

"Are you ok? You're awfully quiet." He said frowning some.

"I didn't think I talked a lot around you in the first place." The brunette muttered.

"The first time we met you did. I guess you just can't think of anything to talk about huh? How about magic? Do you have any?" He questioned tilting his head to the side.

"No, I mean it runs in my family but anyone I did know or meet in my family when I was younger never had any so my parents always told me not to get my hopes up with it." She answered shrugging her shoulders as if it weren't a big deal.

"Oh well that's a shame. Did you know what kind of magic ran in your family?" He continued with his questioning.

"No my parents never told me and personally I've never asked. What about you? I know every child of the royal family is a dragon slayer but it there like something specific about yours. Sting was like, hmm how do I put it. . ."

"Glowing? White? Shining? Anything that deals with the color white or element of light?" The pinkette rambled.

"Yeah." The female chuckled, "Is yours the same or is it different?"

"I'm a fire dragon slayer. Some people say that mine and Sting's elements are similar though because of some saying that the hottest fire is white or something like that. I heard it a long time ago so I may be off." He sighed scratching the back of his head.

"No you're right. Porlyusica and I had to deal with patients back at the clinic that had burn marks and she told me that saying as well." The girl reassured him.

"Oh good! Thought I might have been telling you something false for a second there. Anyway I think you shouldn't forget that magic runs in your family. So what if your parents or anyone close to your generation doesn't have magic, as long as it's somewhere in your genes you still have a chance of getting it so don't give up on it ok?" He beamed down at her.

". . . I won't."

"Promise?"

"I promise Natsu."

* * *

**Well this was definitely one of my longer chapters. Sorry if there wasn't much that was entertaining in it. I guess it was sort of like a filler and you got to learn a little more about Artemis's family. Well anyway I hope you're enjoying and thanks for the follows and favorites if you have or will.**


	11. Chapter 11

"Umm Natsu?"

The brunette stared at the prince who continued to shove food into his mouth. For some who was royal he didn't act very civilized in a public restaurant. Artemis still couldn't believe that he had eaten so much and was _still_ going on with his meal. Shouldn't he also be extremely bloated by now? He's still as skinny as he was when he first stepped foot in this restaurant.

The male stopped eating and looked up at the girl briefly before finishing the food in his hand and wiping himself off with a napkin. He set the newly empty plate onto the stack of dirty plates next to him as one of the waiters came by to take them all away, something about the pinkette always eating too much when he came here being muttered under his breath. Artemis had someone take her dirty plate away about fifteen minutes ago after she finished her meal, which for her was probably the best meal a poor girl like her can have in their lifetime. She had been sitting there waiting for Natsu to finish eating but it seemed as if he just wanted more food as each plate was devoured.

"Is there something else you want Natsu-Kun?" Yajima asked, his tone slightly hopefully that the dragon slayer would say no.

"Nope I think I'm good!" Natsu replied dropping a few jewels on the table and standing up, "Come on Artemis! I'll show you around my kingdom now!"

He took hold of Artemis's wrist and dragged her from the restaurant while yelling thanks to Yajima over his shoulder. The brunette didn't get this pink haired goof ball for anything. He was always so cheerful, well unless you mentioned PhantomLord around him, and she was having trouble always keeping up with him and his peppy personality. That smile of his was glued to his face as he pulled her down the streets too. She tried to keep all of the information he was giving to her in her head but he explained almost every building to her that half the load of information seemed to go in one ear and out the other. He told her of every family in almost every house, he explained each store they past and how he met the owner, and he also told her of all the pranks he used to play on people in the streets as a young boy when Igneel brought him around the kingdom. People would bow or wave and give a hello to the prince and even Artemis herself. She wasn't used to so much attention and being said hello to so much but she assumed it was only natural for anyone to receive that much attention when hanging around the prince of a kingdom.

"Come on Artemis I'll show you where my mother used to take me when my father was too busy with running the kingdom." Natsu told her taking her down a different street.

It was a little bit of a secluded street. Not many people were walking down this way and the shadows of the buildings made the street look a little more dark and gloomy than the others. Natsu didn't seem to notice this fact though and kept tugging on Artemis's wrist as if to tell her she was going to slow and to pick up the pace. He took her all the way to the end; the dead end which Artemis would say didn't help the gloomy issue. He had her stop in front of a shop, and old and ragged looking store. Music instruments sat on display in the windows though they didn't look like they had been touched for years. Natsu beckoned her to follow him inside, the door hitting a bell hanging from the ceiling as it opened. More music instruments hung on walls or were propped up on stands that sat on yellow clothed tables. None of them looked broken but dust coated most of them. She followed the dragon slayer to the back of the shop and into a small private room in the back. In the middle of the room sat a piano, a white coated piano that had its keys covered. The pinkette walked over to it and sat down lifting the casing off of the keys and running his finger along them, each one producing a sound as he pressed down on them.

"I don't know how to play, honestly I never had an interest in learning how to but I loved to listen. My mom used to bring me down here on days that I didn't have lessons or wasn't busy with my dad and she'd play. She used to love music." He chuckled.

"Used to?" Artemis questioned taking a seat next to him.

"She moved forward to a better place a few years ago. I come here every year on the day she passed away and sit here in front of the piano. At that time our kingdom wasn't doing so well but I guessed it was because my father needed time to move past what had happened and I didn't blame him. I had needed time too." Natsu explained, a small smile decorating his face as he did.

". . . I'm sorry Natsu. I didn't mean to pry like that." The brunette apologized feeling guilty for asking as she pressed down on certain keys.

"Its fine . . . hey do you play?" The male asked noticing that keys she pressed sound nice together.

"A little, my mom taught me. We never had our own piano but a friend of hers did so she would take me over twice a week and each time she would sit there and teach me for two hours every time." She answered.

"You wouldn't mind . . . playing for me, would you?" He asked scratching his head awkwardly.

"I'll play but I'm not the best at it." The female answered.

Natsu nodded and rose from the bench so that Artemis could set herself in the middle. She rose her hands and placed the on the keys her mother taught her to put them on. It took her a few seconds to think about what she wanted to play before her fingers began to move. The song flowed beautifully as she played and she didn't make a mistake as she played but that's not what had caught Natsu's attention, it was the song that she had chosen to play. That song that Artemis picked was the same one his mother loved to play, his mother's favorite and he remembered that his mother told him this song was extremely hard to play, that very few knew how to play it. He only knew that his mother could play it and now he knew Artemis could too.

"I thought you said you weren't good at playing?" He questioned her once she ceased to press anymore keys.

"I'm not. I picked a song I thought was easiest for me." The brunette replied.

"That song isn't an easy song to play. That song was my mother's favorite and she said only a very few knew how to play it besides the person who made it. She was one of them and you can too." Natsu explained, the smile that had faltered at the beginning of the song coming back now.

"R-Really? My mom never told me that. This was the first song she taught me." She admitted.

"You were amazing Artemis, really."

"Yes she was! So cool!" An obnoxious voice shouted from the doorway.

Both Artemis and Natsu looked over at the door. They were met with a man who held a camera and notepad; he had blonde hair and light blue eyes, sunglasses rested upon his head. He was smiling as he held up the camera and snapped a picture. Natsu quickly pulled Artemis behind him and glared at the man.

"What are doing here Jason?" He questioned.

"I thought I'd interview our prince since I haven't in awhile and then I find him with a cute babe! COOL!"

"I don't have time for you today Jason, leave us alone." The pinkette growled pulling on Artemis's wrist to lead her out of the music store.

"Wait! Are you his lover or something?" The reporter questioned the brunette as she passed him.

"L-Lover!?" The female stuttered.

"Go Artemis, don't answer him." Natsu ordered pushing her out of the small room and out of the store completely.

The reporter tried to continue questioning them but Artemis was still to shocked from his first question that she didn't have the ability to speak and Natsu was just flat out ignoring him hoping the blonde would get the point and leave the two alone. Natsu rushed Artemis down the street and made a turn into a crowd of people. Artemis watched as the male muttered things under his breath and kept that frown plastered onto his face.

"Natsu? Who was that?" She asked looking behind them to see if the reporter was still following them.

"He's an annoying reporter that travels from kingdom to kingdom to get interviews on the royal families." He replied bitterly.

"W-What he said-"

"Ignore what he asked you. I don't need you getting caught up in all that nonsense. You're different from every other girl I've been forced to meet and I intend to keep it that way." He told her quickly glancing down at her.

Artemis felt her face heat up. It seemed like that was happening often lately and it was embarrassing her. She trailed behind the prince awkwardly the whole way back to the castle not mentioning another word about the reporter. She was led somewhere into the castle gardens where a young boy sat on the edge of a fountain. The boy bared dark purple hair and dark eyes and he looked to be about thirteen years of age. He looked up at both Natsu and Artemis when he heard them approach, a wide smile growing onto his face.

"Natsu-Nii!" The boy called standing up from his seat on the fountain.

"Hey Romeo! How's your apprenticeship going?" The older male asked him.

"Boring but my magic lessons are great!" The boy, Romeo, answered before looking up at Artemis, "Hello Miss. I'm Romeo! I'm working to be a butler here."

"Artemis Elise and please drop the Miss. Umm, are you two related? He called you Natsu-Nii?" Artemis questioned looking at the pinkette.

"No but I've known him since he was pint sized and he always used to hang around me and look up to me so it's like we're brothers. His father also works here so he had to stay here at the place while his father worked which led him to an apprentice ship as a butler here although he finds that more boring than the magic lessons he has been receiving lately. That's where the Natsu-Nii comes from. Sorry if that confused you." Natsu chuckled scratching the back of his head.

"No it's fine; it was just my curiosity getting the best of me."

"Alright well my father said he wanted to speak with me when I returned with you. You wouldn't mind keeping Artemis Company until I get back would you Romeo?" The dragon slayer asked the younger boy.

"Nope!"

"Good! I'll be back as soon as I can."

With that the pink haired pyro jogged away from them and through the garden. Artemis took a seat on the fountain next to Romeo who had seated himself again and continued eating his sandwich. He held out a container that held strawberries in it and looked at Artemis.

"Want some?"

The brunette reached her hand in and plucked one out from the pile before biting into it. Romeo struck up a conversation to get rid of the silence and started explaining to Artemis the kind of magic he was using, it was elemental fire called rainbow fire. Of course Artemis assumed the idea of using fire came from Natsu since he was a _fire_ dragon slayer after all. Everything this boy did seemed to relate back to Natsu in some way, shape, form, or another.

"What about you Artemis? Do you have magic?" The boy asked finishing his meal.

"No but it does run in my family. Natsu told me that I shouldn't give up on it though and that maybe it will come one day." The female replied.

"Sounds like Natsu-Nii! He always knows how to cheer people up. Oh by the way you didn't have to introduce yourself before. I heard about you from Natsu after he returned from the ball in Magnolia. You were one of the girls that danced with him out of the . . . well I don't know how many. They seem to crowd around him a lot lately but now that you're here maybe he won't have to deal with that anymore." The purple haired boy sighed.

"W-What makes you say that?" Artemis stuttered by the sudden theory the young one made.

"Because Natsu-Nii has really taken a liking to you Artemis. You're different from most girls that come to the palace." Romeo replied.

"W-Why is everyone doing that lately?" The brunette sighed.

"Doing what?"

"Assuming that Natsu and I are some sort of _thing_. First Mira brings it up, then that reporter asks if I'm his lover, and now you say that he's taken a liking to me. What is with all of you?" The brunette muttered in response.

"We're only doing that because we hope he's finally found that 'one' in you Artemis." The boy stated.

"What 'one'?"

"The wife he needs to become king of Pyre."


	12. Chapter 12

"_Mama! Mama! Look what I found!"_

"_What is it sweetie?" The little girl's mother asked crouching down in front of the small girl._

"_Look! Look!"_

_The small girl held up a flower to her mother's face. They were rare flowers to this kingdom and it was said to be good luck if you found them. It looked like a lily, a white one, but at the end of each petal the white merged with multiple colors like the edges of the petals were becoming rainbows. The girl's mother smiled and took the flower from the girl's hand._

"_Now where could you have possibly found this?" Her mother asked._

"_It was in the garden. Isn't it pretty mama?" The little girl asked._

"_Very pretty sweetie. Come inside and we can put it in one of the vases."_

_The little girl obeyed and followed her mother inside. The little girl loved her mother deeply so whenever she would find something she would always want to give to her mother. The girl looked exactly like her too, beautiful brown hair and dazzling green eyes. No matter if her mother tried to deny her it wouldn't be possible because they were just too similar, though she would never do such a thing to her daughter._

_The little girl placed herself at the table and waited for her mother to grab the vase and fill it with water. Once on the table the little girl watched the lily drop into the water. It seemed to brighten the bare room to an extensive amount. With all of the refurnishing her father was doing the dining room had nothing to make it look lively. The girl's eyes widened with delight as she stared at the flower, her mother's hand running over her head._

"_How about I make us some lunch?" Her mother asked._

"_Yeah!"_

_Watching her mother stalk off to the kitchen she turned to the sound of the front door opening. It was her father coming home from his job. The little girl hopped down from her chair and ran over wrapping her tiny limbs know as arms around her father's leg. He picked her up and grinned before turning to face her mother._

"_Welcome home. How was work?" Her mother asked trying to strike up a casual conversation._

"_We're still having trouble with that one machine. I never did understand magic objects, or magic in general actually. So how are my two girls today?" Her father replied setting the small girl to the floor._

"_Papa! Look what I found for mama! It's pretty right?" She asked pointing up to the flower on the table._

"_It is pretty. You know I think I remember a legend about that particular flower. It's said to bring good luck if someone in these parts finds it. It's very rare so take good care of it ok?"_

"_Alright papa!"_

_Her father gave out a curt chuckle before following her mother back into the kitchen. The little girl perched herself back up onto the chair and proceeded to stare at the flower some more. She could hear her parents talking about something, her mother sounding distressed and her father trying to comfort her. The little girl didn't understand why her mother seemed stressed sometimes. Her ignorant little mind didn't understand how hard life could be when she grew, but really wasn't every little child like that? The small child smiled and turned in her chair to see what was taking her mother so long to make their lunch but she became startled from a loud noise resounding from outside. The little girl snapped her head to the side to face the front door as she felt herself being lifted up out of her chair and into her mother's arms._

"_Take her to the back room! Hurry!" Her father yelled over loud banging on the front door._

"_Mama what's happening?" The girl's fragile voice whimpered._

_Their door flung open and broke off its hinges before her mother had a chance to speak. Men in strange metal clothing entered their home frightening the little girl even more. They were all shouting at once and her father was trying to shove them away from her and her mother. She watched as one of the metal men shoved her father back and he landed onto the floor with a loud 'thud'. Two of the men standing behind the first one passed him trampling over her father without a care to make their way to her and her mother. A disgusting cracking sound came from beneath the men's feet and a pain filled yell followed after from her father._

"_Hand over the child!" They demanded, one of them baring a sword holding it out in front of her mother._

"_No!"_

_The girl didn't know what she was supposed to do. The first man who had shoved her father down to begin with had lit a match and dropped it down on the wooden table feeding the small flame that surrounded the tip of the small object. She watched in horror as the fire spread and her mother backed away from it and the men inching closer to them. Her mother darted to the back room and shoved her daughter in their closing the door behind her and telling her to climb out the window. The little girl slammed her tiny hands on the wood crying for her mother. More shouting sounded through the house followed by ear piercing scream. The front door opened and then slammed shut telling the girl that those men had left. She stood to her tippy toes so that she could turn the door knob and make her way out. Half of the house was engulfed in flames by now but all the little girl's tear filled eyes could look at was her mother, her mother's bloody figure sprawled out a crossed the floor lifeless, the 'good luck' flower rested in her mother's hand burning away to nothing._

"_MAMA!"_

* * *

Artemis's eyes flew open and met with sight of the white ceiling filled with little golden designs. Her breaths were short and fast and she could feel that sweat was covering her forehead. She groaned and sat up in her bed rubbing her face. She used her uncovered eye to look out her window, sunlight trying to shove its way through the curtains making her room become dimly lit. The brunette shifted herself so that she could have her feet hanging off the edge of the bed. Her door opened behind her followed by sweet humming. MiraJane made her way to the windows and flung the curtains open letting in more sunlight, Artemis's green orbs squinting at the light's harshness.

"Good morning Artemis!" She greeted cheerfully.

"Morning." She replied sleepily.

"Have a nice sleep?"

". . . I guess." The darker haired teen shrugged not wanting to remember it.

"Good! Erza will be up in a minute with your breakfast and the morning newspaper. We don't know if you like reading but it's just our common courtesy here. Oh and you don't need to rush to be ready this morning Artemis. The prince has morning lessons today so he said you could relax until about noon time." The white haired female informed her before stalking out of the room.

Artemis sighed and pushed her weight onto her feet. Walking over to the closet she shoved the double doors open to reveal the hangers on top of hangers that had dresses hanging on them. Mira had come in yesterday while Artemis was out with Natsu to fill her closet with more simple dresses that she had requested. The brunette grabbed a plain hunter green one before shutting the closet and turning towards the bathroom. She shut the door behind her and proceeded to change and brush her hair out. She found Erza setting food down on her nightstand when she stepped out fully changed. The scarlet haired girl looked up at Artemis and gave a warm smile before bowing.

"Good morning Artemis." She greeted.

"You don't need to act so formal all the time." The brunette mumbled, her clothes being dropped onto the bed.

"I've brought you you're morning meal and something to read until his highness comes to get you. I hope you enjoy."

Erza gave a curt nod of her head and grabbed the clothes bunched up on the already made bed. The female left the room leaving Artemis in peace to eat her meal. The plate was covered in fancy food; some not even looking common whatsoever to the teen. She took a seat on the bed and dug into her morning meal enjoying every bit of it. By the time she was done she had about fifteen minutes or so till noon before Natsu was to walk through the door to get her like Mira said. Her eyes met with the newspaper set next to her plate, the thought of just skimming it over coming to mind. She lifted it up and scanned her eyes over the front page. The head line mentioned something about a robbery in some jewelry store, a picture of a black figure sitting above the article. Green orbs scanned over each page and looked at each picture carefully until she came a crossed one that startled her. The black and white picture held her and Natsu sitting next to that piano in the music store. She scanned over the first few words in the article, heat rising to her cheeks at what it said. _'Prince Natsu had been seen sitting in a music store with a beautiful girl. Could she be the one our prince had been searching for? Could she be the one to help him rule over our beautiful country of Pyre?'. _Artemis's face flushed furiously as she continued to look at the picture. She must've zoned out because the sound of her door opening brought her back to reality. It was the pinkette from the picture who had entered her room, that usual smile shining. She slammed the paper down onto her bed and stood up quickly returning his smile.

"Morning Artemis! Enjoy breakfast?" The pinkette asked.

"Y-Yeah, it was great." She replied still trying to hide her embarrassment from the paper.

"Good! Well why don't you get your shoes on and we'll head out."

The brunette nodded and made her way back to the closet to go pick out a pair of shoes. The male spotted the morning paper on the bed once Artemis moved herself. He walked closer and picked it up turning it over to see the picture of Artemis and himself. He growled and lit it on fire from just the heat of his hands, its ashes fluttering to the ground like black snowflakes. Artemis turned to find an uncomfortable emotion on Natsu's face.

"Natsu?" She spoke carefully stepping closer, "Is something wrong?"

"People really need to learn how to butt out of my business." His voice spoke lowly, harshly while his dark eyes darted over to Artemis's figure.

"Ah! . . . I'm s-sorry Natsu I was just-"

"Not you, those stupid reporters. I hate it when they write false things in the paper about me." He sighed.

"S-So . . . you don't like me?" The brunette found herself speaking without meaning to, the disappointment in her tone shocking herself even more.

". . . I never said that, did I?"

The female locked her eyes with the male who was walking towards her. The contact Natsu's hand made with the side of her neck startled her, his hand twice as warm as her own skin. His lips parted into a grin as he pressed his forehead onto hers. The heart inside Artemis's chest wouldn't calm down and just continued to add more beats per minute. It was something different, something she hadn't ever felt before and it was confusing her greatly.

"I do like you a lot you know, ever since I helped you decorate that store. You're different then every other girl my father has had me meet, and I like that. They always swooned over me and I knew all they wanted was the tile of queen and money. I can see that's not what you look for, you don't care about the money do you Artemis? You like your life the way it is, for who you are now. You know I would like a girl just like you ruling next to me, so just give me a chance Artemis, a chance to show you how I feel."

Her breath hitched as he leaned closer, both of them only inches apart. Artemis didn't know what she was supposed to say. She knew she could answer the way Natsu hoped her to answer but she wasn't sure if that was what she wanted too or if it was something else she was searching for, all she knew was that her eyes became heavy and her body just shut down without letting her have a say in what was happening.


	13. Chapter 13

Artemis sighed as she found herself lost inside the castle. She just needed some time alone after what had happened. She felt guilty seeing the look on his face after she had rejected kissing him. She didn't know why but something had seemed to cross her mind at the last second, something that made her feel as if kissing Natsu wasn't the right thing to do. It frustrated her though as to what stopped her exactly. She was just worried about bumping into Natsu again at the moment, the awkwardness from that wouldn't be so easy to go through at the moment.

Groaning Artemis found herself at a split hallway, one end leading to random rooms and the other had a set of double wooden doors at the end. The double doors seemed to take more of Artemis's interest so the girl found herself prying the doors open. She was greeted by a library at least three stories high, books filling every inch of space from top to bottom and front to back. The brunette let the doors shut behind her as she walked forward staring at the huge library in awe. On the first floor were small areas where plush seats filled space, most likely for comfort so that one could read without having to travel all the way back to their room. The teen climbed the first set of stairs to the second floor and weaved around the tons of book cases, her fingers gliding a crossed the colorful bindings of the books. Her mind drifted off to the short blue haired teen that she had seen about five days or so ago, she lost count how many days ago it was some time ago. Artemis knew that girl had a passion for books, books from history to fantasy to comedy from A to Z. She could probably say that girl's list of favorite books was endless too. It was then that her cousin popped into mind. She wondered if Celestine was into books just like Levy was, the girl was practically raised by the short female so that would also mean that she was around a lot of books right? Her cousin . . . It was because of her letter that Artemis was even in this confusing mess.

"What am I doing blaming someone I haven't even met in my whole life yet?" She mumbled to no one but herself placing back one of the books she had picked up.

She made her way out of the maze of book shelves and found the stairs leading to the third floor. She slowly began to climb them finding that the last level of the library was rather dimly lit for it had no windows unlike the first two floors. Small candles sat on small wooden stands, flower pots occasionally placed next to them. The books that rested on the shelves seemed older than the books from the lower levels. One book caught Artemis's eye thought but it didn't help that it was left out on a podium that had wood peeling from it. Two candles rested on either side of the leather covered book. Artemis flipped the book open to find a little over half the book filled with pictures. There were picture upon pictures of Natsu and his father, Natsu as baby, Natsu as ten year old with his father, Natsu in his young teens. Artemis skimmed through the pages that appeared empty to make sure there weren't picture she had missed and sure enough on the back of the very last page was a picture of a single person, a lady with beautiful rosy pink hair and black eyes. She had looked just like Natsu and she was very beautiful.

"You know, I don't normally allow guests on this level."

Artemis slammed the book shut and spun around to meet with the red haired king. He held a candle in his hand that seemed almost out of wax by this point. He smiled at Artemis and walked closer placing the candle between the first two that had already been there. She watched Natsu's father open up to the back picture she had been previously looking at, his fingers running over it.

"I'm sorry; if you don't want people up here I'll leave." Artemis panicked and waved her hands in front of her.

"No, no, It's alright, I should've told you beforehand it was my mistake. It's more of a personal family level of our library." Igneel chuckled pulling the picture out of the book.

". . . Its Natsu's mother right? She's beautiful and she seems very nice." Artemis said trying not to pry too much onto that subject remembering what Natsu had told her about his mother.

"She was a very nice woman. Natsu probably loved his mother more than anything." The elder of the two sighed handing her the picture.

"Natsu told me what happened to her, well not specifically but still. I'm sorry you had to lose what seemed to be such a wonderful person." The brunette whispered taking the picture.

"My son was heartbroken, not to say I wasn't but he probably took it worse than I did though he's just too stubborn to admit it to himself. . . You know he really has taking such a great liking to you Miss. Elise."

"Erm. . .I know that already." Artemis sighed placing the picture back onto the book.

"I know you do but it is a shame you don't return his feelings. He had told me what happened in your room when I bumped into him on the way here. He hoped he had finally found the one he was looking for in you. When he came home from the ball in Magnolia he wouldn't stop talking about some girl he had met decorating a store on the streets. I was happy that he had felt that way." The man chuckled remembering his son's blabbering.

"I'm sorry . . . It's just that. . ."

"I'm not telling or forcing you to fall in love with my son Artemis. Love is something that people take in different ways and I'm sure you have your own path for it too. Whatever stopped you from falling for my son, whether it is because you aren't ready or you may have someone else and just not know it you had your reasons for rejecting Natsu. I just want you to know exactly why he wanted you out of every girl he's met."

"He told me it was because I was different, that I didn't seem to want him just to be queen or for the money." Artemis sighed.

"I think there's more to it than that. He wanted you probably because he sees so much of his mother in you. That's what he wanted, a girl who had the qualities of his own mother so that his kids could feel as happy as he did when he was a young boy, and you know I have to agree with him. You are so much like my wife Miss. Elise." Igneel smiled and placed the photo back into its place.

"Why is it you have to go and say such things father?"

Both Artemis and Igneel spun themselves around to find the pink haired prince staring sadly at his feet with his hands tightly clenched into fists at his sides. A look of guilt washed over the face of Natsu's father as he watched small tears slip from his son's eyes. The guilt that had seemed to subside within Artemis bubbled up again while she looked at Natsu. He lifted his head and stared straight at Artemis before turning and running back downstairs.

"Natsu!" Igneel called after him.

". . . I'm sorry . . . I don't mean to keep hurting him." Artemis chocked looking down at her own feet.

"It's not your fault my dear. I should be more careful with what I say though I wasn't expecting him to be right there. He can get so emotional when someone else besides him brings up the topic of his mother. I just hope that he didn't hear all of that." Igneel replied closing the photo album.

"I hope so too." The brunette murmured.

"We should be leaving here now. I'm sure there's more for you to be doing than sitting around our library all day."

Artemis nodded and followed the red haired male down the stairs. The silence that washed over them seemed to disturb Artemis greatly. She opened her mouth to try and strike up another conversation with the male but the noise that beat her to breaking the silence wasn't one that she wanted hear.

_BOOM!_

* * *

**Well I particularly like this chapter though it does feel like one of the shorter ones. Oh well! Oh and by the way my cousin has started a side story to this one that I've been meaning to tell all of you about. It's called Dark Dawns, Bright Dusks. It focuses more on Artemis's cousin Celestine so if you like this one I think you'll personally like that one better. Sorry it took me so long to tell them about it Brianna! T_T**


	14. Chapter 14

Screams, explosions, chaos, feet pounding on the floor, all of these sounds were swelling in Artemis's ears as she ran. She lost sight of Igneel when a bomb came crashing through the wall in-between them as they were running. Igneel instructed her to go through the gardens in the back of the castle and wait at the northern border of the kingdom where he promised that Natsu and he would meet her which is what she was willing doing now. Half of the back garden was already ignited with smoldering flames that leaped and twirled in a fiery dance as they used the plants as fuel to expand in size. The brunette had ditched her heels some time ago not caring if they were burned away and thinking it would help for her to run faster. The garden's gate was just up ahead though she skidded to halt, a familiar voice piercing her ears with a scream. _'Romeo'._ She shifted her weight and ran off in a different direction where the scream had resounded from. Near the castle's back fountain she found the boy struggling to his feet, his clothes were torn and burnt to a crisp in various places and the flames were crawling up to his feet. Artemis knew that she had to worry about getting out of here herself but she wasn't going to just leave without attempting to save at least one person first. Grabbing his wrist after reaching him, she pulled the boy to his feet and proceeded to make her way to the gate with him.

"Artemis! What are you doing here!? You should have already left!" The violet haired boy shouted trying to keep up with her pace as his slightly burnt feet yelled and protested against his movement.

"That's what I'm doing Romeo but I'm not just going to leave you here to become a burnt corpse! You can barely move as it is and I don't want to leave here and feel selfish because I didn't even stop to help save one life!" The brunette snapped back frustrated that he would question her actions at a time like this.

"But what about Natsu-Nii!? Won't he be looking for you?" He questioned.

Artemis pressed her lips into a fine line and didn't bother to answer his question. She didn't know what Natsu was doing or where he even was at the moment since he had ran off but he was a dragon slayer after all, he would be able to defend himself if it came to it and she was sure his father had found him by now. The female was more focused on getting her and the younger teen to safety, the ones who couldn't fight as well as Natsu and his father. She heard the boy groan at her decision to not answer him but it didn't faze her or think about reconsidering it. She reached her hand out for the gate's lock but an array of colorful flames twirled around Romeo and her making her pull her hand back and quickly tumble back away from the gate.

"Rainbow fire!? That's what I use!" The young boy shouted and startled to see his own magic being used against him.

"Non! Non! We have located our target. I'm sure his highness will be most pleased now."

Artemis spun around as Romeo shifted his weight to only turn himself half way. The fire around them dispersed to reveal three men behind them, one with a monocle, the one standing to his left who was the largest of the three was wearing a hat and blindfold while tears slipped down from underneath the cloth, and the last one had a black marking a crossed his nose and held the colorful fire within his hand. Though hurt and wounded, Romeo stepped in front of Artemis to protect her, his small hand lighting with a purple flame.

"Hey it looks like this little guy knows how to use my magic."

"Who are you!?" Romeo snapped as his patience was visibly slipping.

"Romeo, be careful." Artemis whispered pulling the boy closer to her.

"I'm sorry, we did not mean to be rude Non! Non! You see I am Monsieur Sol and this is Mr. Totomaru and Mr. Aria, we are his highness's most powerful mages. Non! Non! Non!" The one with the monocle stated while gesturing to each of them, "His highness, King Jose will be most pleased that we have found what we were sent here for. Non! Non!"

"Jose? That's Phantom's king! What are you doing here in Pyre!?" The young male inquired fiercely trying to pry himself away from Artemis.

The brunette felt herself tense up at the mention of PhantomLord and King Jose. The nights of her in that cold stone cell came flooding back to her and she felt her hands tremble slightly. That's why all of this was happening? It was because Jose wanted her that badly. It made her heated that this man, no this sick _creature,_ would go even lower than he has just obtain one person, Artemis herself! Everyone in this kingdom was suffering because of her and she wished she had the ability to stop it all, stop the fire's spreading and the bombs from exploding onto people's houses while Phantom guards raided homes in their treasure hunt for her. She gritted her teeth and glared at the three in front of her.

"Why we're here for the female. You see his Highness has some unfinished business with her I'm afraid. Such a naughty girl to run away the way you did. If you wish for this torture to stop I suggest you willingly come with us." Totomaru told her, a small devious smile crawling to his lips.

"I won't let you hurt Artemis!" Romeo defensively hollered finally freeing himself from the brunette and throwing himself at the three mages.

"Romeo no!" Artemis snapped.

The older fire mage took a single step forward and swiped his hand out. Just with that simple gesture he was able to make Romeo hit himself with his own fire which caused the young male to make himself stagger backwards and fall to his back. Artemis rushed to his aid and helped the injured boy to sit up. If his condition wasn't bad before it was completely horrible now and from just one hit that happened to be his own. He had a burn mark a crossed the bridge of his nose and she saw a small drop of blood drip down from his nose as it added to the many burn marks on his legs and the four divided up among his arms.

"I told you not to attack them Romeo! What were you thinking they're Phantom mages!" The female snapped furious, more towards the fact that the boy was seriously injured than anything else.

"They aren't going to take you away! If Natsu-Nii can't protect you at the moment I will because I know how much you mean to him!" The boy shouted back.

Artemis parted her lips slightly and widened her green hued eyes at the younger teen. She loosened her grip on his shoulders and stood there completely frozen as the boy wavered up to his feet again ready to fight. She knew that Natsu cared about her but for some reason having Romeo say that to her was like a slap in the face. Images of the pinkette flashed through her mind at rapid speed and she clenched her eyes shut trying to get rid of them to have her mind focus on more important things at the moment.

"Aria, finish this brat off so we can take the girl." Totomaru yawned obviously bored with his current situation.

"It's so sad! To have to harm a little kid! So sad!" The taller one, Aria wailed as he held his hand up, wind swirling around it at quick speeds that could damage if contact was made with it.

"Romeo!" Artemis screamed tackling the boy to the floor and using her own body as his shield.

"Artemis no! What are you doing!?" The boy tried yelling but it only came out somewhat muffled due to his face being pressed against the ground.

"So sad!"

"Karyû-no-Kagizume[1]!"

Artemis lifted her head and watched as a flaming foot connected itself with the wind mage's back. The attack planned for her and Romeo never came as the man landed to the ground with an excessive _'thud'. _The other two mages backed away startled by the newcomer's appearance. Obsidian orbs connected with the olive toned ones that belonged to Artemis. She inhaled sharply upon seeing the aggressive look plastered to his normally cheery face. Totomaru and Monsieur Sol quickly registered who the male was, their faces now reading fear a crossed them.

"Prince Natsu! Non! Non!" Monsieur Sol gasped holding up his hands.

"Leave my kingdom before I turn you all to ash!" The fire breather roared, small amounts of fire slipping from his lips as he spoke to them.

"Sorry pal but we aren't leaving until we have what we came here for." Totmaru replied though his voice was laced with fear that was obvious to Artemis.

Natsu glared harshly at the black and white haired male. Artemis didn't even see him flinch yet the dragon slayer was right in front of Totomaru faster than one could bat their eyes. One solid punch to the face allowed Natsu to send the man flying away into the spreading flames of the garden before he set his sights on the last man still on his feet. Monsieur Sol quaked with fear as he used his magic to lift the ground beneath Natsu blasting him into the air. Artemis watched in complete horror yet amazement as the group of mages fought before her. She never understood the concept of magic or anything that revolved around it but she was awe struck as she watched them all fight.

Natsu came barreling back down towards the earth mage, his foot ablaze as he yelled as if one were to do in a war, though when you thought about it this was like a mini war occurring right before them. Before the last standing Phantom mage had a chance to protect himself Natsu had connected his foot to the man's face. The man slammed against the ground with a loud crunching noise that made Artemis wince while Natsu flipped backwards off of him.

"Artemis! Take Romeo and leave! Now! They're after you so you need to get as far from here as possible!" The pyro shouted pointing to the gates behind the female.

"But Natsu you-"

"I'll be just fine! You need to leave!" He snapped once more.

Artemis froze at his harsh tone before slowly pulling herself off of the boy she was still hovering over. She felt Natsu watching her as she picked up the almost unconscious boy up. Romeo groaned and shifted himself onto his less burnt foot while placing a hand onto the railing of the fence connected to the gate before looking up at Natsu. Artemis watched the boy's eyes widen and his mouth drop open. The female fell into confusion until she noticed the large man standing behind Natsu, his hands wrapped in large and dangerous amounts of wind.

"Natsu-Nii!" Romeo shouted.

The pinkette's eyes widened suddenly feeling the presence behind him. Natsu lit his hand on fire but realized there was not enough time to protect himself. Leaving the boy to use the fence to hold himself up Artemis shoved herself between Natsu and Aria, her action's catching the prince off guard as she crossed her arms in front of her forming an 'x'.

"Artemis I told you leave! Are you insane!? Move!" Natsu roared reaching his hand out towards her.

The brunette didn't know what she was doing but she felt the need to protect him, like she could protect him without getting hurt. She felt something bubbling up inside of herself at a rapid speed that felt what she thought to be arm, that warm feeling moving to her arms. She screwed her eyes shut and moved her arms from the 'x' formation straight out in front of her and as if on instinct a blue glowing shell appeared in front of both her and Natsu faster than one could register what was happening.

"Baria[2]!" She shouted.

The wind casted off of Aria's hands and smashed against the blue barrier Artemis created. It cracked it slightly and bounced back and attacked its creator sending him plummeting to the ground. The barrier shattered and the brunette slid backwards as Natsu gripped her arms steadying her to her feet. She gawked at her shaking hands that felt numb and warm. Natsu looked at her amazed and finally understood what had happened.

"Artemis! You can use magic! You have supporting magic!" He laughed, a grin crawling a crossed his face.

"M-Magic. . ." She breathed out.

"I told you shouldn't give up! Look at you; you have the power to protect others and yourself now Artemis."

The brunette smiled gently down at her hands. It took forever but she had it, magic. She was the one who ended up with the lucky genes of her family she guessed. She felt relieved that she could at least do something for herself now than having to rely on others for help all the time. She could things for others now too and that made her happy. Grunting sounds broke Artemis from her thoughts and she watched as the three men stood up from their spots angrily. Natsu yanked Artemis behind him and lit his hand while he glowered at the trio.

"Artemis you can leave now. I can handle myself from now on. Take Romeo with you." Natsu muttered just loud enough for her to hear.

"But I can prot-"

"They want you Artemis! I understand you can use magic now but you need to get used to it before you start using a lot of it! Go Artemis because I can't fight and protect you at the same time!" He shouted frustrated with her persistence.

"She can go but I'm staying here!" Romeo interjected wobbling over to Natsu's side, "I'll help you fight Natsu-Nii I still have some fire power left."

"You sure Romeo?" The elder of the two asked earning a nod from him.

"What!? You're gonna let Romeo stay but I can't hel-"

The pinkette covered her mouth and picked her up throwing her over the fence to the other side. She gripped the fence and hoisted herself up, coming face to face with the dragon slayer. His stern expression didn't faze her one bit and she gritted her teeth at him clenching the railing tightly.

"Natsu I-"

She fell speechless when she felt something warm and soft against her forehead. She stared at him in shocked before he spun her around pushing her towards the forest just up ahead. She didn't bother to argue with him anymore after what he did and bolted past the trees and bushes, the more that she past the more she lost sight of the pinkette over her shoulder. As she ran she lifted her hand up to her forehead where she could still feel the ghostly touch of where Natsu made contact with her skin.

Where Natsu's lips had touched her.

* * *

**[1]=Fire Dragon's Talon**

**[2]=Barrier**


	15. Chapter 15

"I know . . . you're there. Come . . . out." Artemis panted while using the tree next to her as a support.

The brunette was completely exhausted and her legs just couldn't move another inch. She collapsed to the ground and continued to supply her lungs with air that they were lacking at the moment. She knew that someone had been following her for some time which is why she had pushed herself to the point of not being able to move just in case it was a Phantom guard but if it was they would have already attacked her by now. They would have had so many advantages if they did attack her, a girl who had no strength to defend herself or run any farther.

"Well. . . I told you to come out!" She snapped.

The bushes a crossed the way shifted and swayed before a creature Artemis had never seen before flew out from behind it. She stared at the peculiar animal with a raised eyebrow, a blue cat with angel-like wings. It smiled and floated down to her, its black eyes looking over her slightly burnt skin and defaced clothing. The female leaned her body away as the animal hovered closer to her and smiled, its smile reminding her of the prince she left behind in that burning kingdom.

"W-Who are you? _What_ are you?" She questioned.

"They call me Happy! I'm part of a race called exceeds!" the blue ball of fur answered.

"Ex . . . ceeds? W-What do you want from me? Why were you following me?"

"I was ordered to follow you and make sure you got away safely Artemis. Natsu ordered me to."

"Natsu? He's safe?" The brunette asked; hope bubbling up inside of her.

"Aye! Of course he is! He's a dragon slayer after all and my best friend!" The cat boasted.

". . . Oh yeah, of course silly me." She chuckled.

"Well you can't just sit there all day. The next kingdom isn't too far. We'll make there in no time if I fly you there."

The teen raised a slender brow at Happy questioning what he had just said. The blue exceed gripped onto the back of her dress with his paws and lifted her up into the air startling her. Being able to see a bird's eye view like this was amazing after Artemis was able to calm herself down to enjoy it. She could see mountains lining the horizon and from this height the trees looked like a plush green blanket since the pieces of nature were squished so close to one another. Behind them the female spotted a cloud of gray rising up into the blue sky and contaminating its beautiful color. She knew what that was and she wasn't surprised that she could see it from all the way over here. If you had a kingdom that big being burned down all at once it wouldn't be a surprise that it'd produce a lot of smoke like Pyre was, thinking about it now that name seemed to fit its current image, Pyre meaning large fire and now it was being consumed by a large fire. The guilt was eating at her greatly, she felt like this travesty was all her fault and she did nothing to prevent it. Those Phantom guards wouldn't of had to even think about going to Pyre if she didn't step foot into that place, they were there for her, not anything else but Artemis and Artemis alone.

"We're here! Prepare for landing!" Happy chuckled lowering both of them to the ground.

Artemis gently placed her feet back onto solid ground and looked up; two big wooden doors were looking back at her and a strip of metal coated in blue paint ran along both doors. She followed after Happy as the cat conversed with the guards on top of the wall. It seemed like they both knew who Happy was and gladly let him in, the excuses that Artemis was a close friend of his being used to allow the brunette to enter herself. Inside the wall was a cheerful milieu, people smiling as they walked by and kids chasing after their parents so they wouldn't get lost. Some would stop to look at Artemis from time to time but her ruined clothes and dirty skin were probably the reason for it. What really caught the teen's attention was the air; it seemed more _pure_ if you'd like to call it that. It was as if you could actually feel the difference in how clean the air was from outside the wall compared to in here.

"Artemis, don't zone out or you'll get lost from me. We aren't here to sightsee you know, I brought you here to meet the princess. She'll be able to heal your wounds easily." The blue fur ball informed the girl who he was looking at over his shoulder.

"R-Right, sorry." She stuttered.

The brunette still couldn't keep her eyes from wandering off to other things that the two of them past but it wasn't hard for her to miss Happy within this crowd, he was a flying blue cat and she didn't think that there were many of those around here. Her green orbs wandered to her left and she spotted a couple, the male had his lips to the female's forehead. She quickly looked away embarrassed for staring at the two for as long as she did and her hand immediately drifted up to her own forehead, to the spot where she had been kissed herself. Artemis could feel her eyelids drop slightly, the guilt she was feeling becoming worse. Not only did she feel like it was her fault for what happened to Pyre but she also felt bad for not being able to return Natsu's feelings even after he had kissed her forehead. It just didn't feel right, she just didn't like Natsu, well in that sort of way at least but she wondered why. Even though Artemis wouldn't admit it out loud she was looking to find someone who she wanted to be with in that way when she was back home in Magnolia. She didn't want to be alone for the rest of her life so why was it that when that pinkette came around and clearly showed that he liked her in that way was it that she couldn't feel the same for him? She remembered the suggestions Igneel had given her about not being ready or having someone else in her life that may be the one she was looking for . . . someone else? An image of blonde hair flashed through the brunette's mind and she shook her head to get rid of it.

"I really shouldn't worry about it at a time like this." She sighed to herself.

"Artemis!"

She looked up startled to find Happy so ahead of her. She pushed herself into a jog to catch up with him and find him standing before two guards who stood before a gate. There was a castle just beyond the gate, the banners and little decorations around the windows and balconies were coated in different shades of blue while the rest of the bricks that made up the structure were white. There was a garden that lay before the castle entrance but not one nearly as big as the one back in Pyre, the one now destroyed.

"Happy, it's good to see you again. You've come to deliver news I suppose?" one of the guards asked.

"Aye! She's come with me too so it'll be alright if she comes with me too to see the princess right?" The feline replied with a question of his own.

"Certainly."

Both of them opened the gate and Artemis followed Happy through the garden and into the castle. There were plenty of maid and butlers at work within and none stopped to help direct them though they all gave a curt hello as they past the two. It didn't seem like they needed directions anyway with the way Happy merrily just floated about the castle like he lived here himself. Each hall they past seemed like the last one, long blue carpets and blue framed windows or white doors on the walls. Artemis had almost believed that Happy had gotten them lost until he made a stop at a set of white double doors, their handles made of gold and the pattern that swirled down them painted blue. Happy knocked on the door with his paw and a small voice answered from the other side telling them to enter. Upon the two throne's on the other side of the room was a woman and the other held a small girl about the age of twelve or slightly more.

"Artemis come on, they won't hurt you." Happy chuckled quietly.

The said teen nodded slowly and made her way to the other end of the room with Happy by her side. The older female stood from her throne, her dark blue hair shifting forward over her shoulders as she leaned forward to get up. A soft smile lit her face and the young girl gave off one of her own. Happy bowed his head politely and then looked up at her sadly.

"I've already heard the news Happy. There is no need for you to tell me since it must pain you to do so, but I will ask if the king and his son made it out of that fire safely." The woman said before Happy had the chance to open his mouth.

"I'm . . . not sure your highness but they seemed to have almost reached the kingdom's borders by the time I was ordered to come here." The exceed replied.

"I see. . ." She hummed as her dark eyes locked with the green hued ones of Artemis, "Happy who might this be?"

"My apologies! This is Artemis Elise a close friend of Natsu's and he told me to go after her to make sure she got away safely after he got her out of Pyre's boarders." Happy explained.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Artemis. I'm Cait shelter's queen, Grandeeny and this is my daughter Wendy Marvell."


	16. Chapter 16

Thanks to Wendy and her sky dragon slaying magic, all the burn marks on Artemis's body were healed with ease. One of the maids brought her one of Grandeeney's old dresses that have ceased to fit her so that the brunette had a fresh set of clothes instead of wearing tarnished ones. Happy had came into her room just a few minutes prior to the current time to tell her that he needed to be heading off to inform Natsu that she was ok. The brunette had no other things to occupy her time at the moment so she found herself roaming the castle not having a clue on where she was going or where she wasn't even allowed to be. It was always like Artemis to let her curiosity get the best of her in new places, she got into a lot of trouble when she was younger for it that was for sure.

With her bare feet gliding along the royal blue carpets in the castle Artemis began to open doors randomly, obviously knocking beforehand just in case. Each room she opened was beautifully decorated with different shades of blue and white furniture. The brunette assumed that Grandeeney and Wendy had a thing for the color blue since the whole palace had blue decorations spread throughout the whole structure. She came up to another white marbled door and knocked on it lightly before waiting for a response on the other side just in case the room was occupied. When no one answered her Artemis reached her hand out for the gold door handle but the door opened from the other side before her fingers even touched it. There before her stood the young bluenette that the people of this kingdom called their princess smiling up at Artemis.

"Artemis-San! You need something?" The young girl asked her while pushing the door open even more.

"Oh no I was just roaming around. Sorry to disturb you Wendy." The older teen replied.

"I wasn't doing anything anyway so it's alright, why don't you come in? It's awkward talking in a doorway don't you think?"

Artemis nodded in agreement and stepped past Wendy into her bedroom. Of course it was more elegant than any of the other rooms that had been previously visited but the brunette really didn't expect anything else. Wendy's bed was definitely a lot larger than necessary for a girl her size and dark blue curtains hung about the four posts that sat at each corner of the bed and almost touch the ceiling. A vanity set sat a crossed the room from her bed and there was a chair set of the left of the bed next to the large windows which was probably good if Wendy didn't feel like standing as she watched outside. Artemis decided to take up that vacant chair so that she wasn't standing awkwardly in front of Wendy who rested upon her oversized bed.

"I see my mom's dress works well for you." Wendy smiled eyeing the beautiful white dress that reached to Artemis's ankles.

"Ah yeah, tell her thank you." Artemis said and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"It's not really a big deal. You really didn't deserve to be walking around in the ruined clothes you were wearing earlier and that doesn't fit my mom anymore anyway so I don't think it matters much." Wendy shrugged and tilted her head some.

"Yeah . . . but still. . ."

The teen's emerald orbs trailed from Wendy's face down to her bare feet. She wrung her hands together while the corners of her lips pulled down. She felt bad at this point to have another royal family treating her this way, what didn't Wendy's family make the fourth royal family that has helped her now. First Gajeel when he tried to get her to meet Celestine who was the only extended family that she knew of, then Sting who helped her get out of Phantom's castle, Natsu's family came next when they kept her within their palace and treated her so well and out of that they get a burnt down and trashed kingdom, and now Wendy and her mother are keeping her safe inside their home which could be burned down tomorrow for all the brunette knew. Sometimes she couldn't help but wish that Sting didn't show up in that execution room the moment he did because everything wouldn't have escalated into what it has. That blonde, Artemis just hoped he wouldn't have to get involved anymore than he already has. She didn't want him and his family hurt as much as Natsu's has been.

"What is it? Something wrong Artemis-San?" Wendy asked.

". . . Nothing I guess. . ." The said girl sighed and turned her head to look out the window.

"You can tell me, you know get things off your chest."

Artemis hesitated at first and took a deep breath before speaking and saying, "Well. . . I just feel bad. Four of the royal families have gone out of their way to help me, a commoner who lives in a small house on the poorer end of Magnolia. Out of all of this I feel like I should be repaying all of you and I wish and didn't have to bring as many of you into this as I did and some of you I hope don't get more involved than you are. . . like Sting for example."

"I get what you're saying but in all honesty we're all glad we're helping you. Phantom has been a real pain to all of us lately ever since Gajeel-San's father disappeared without telling anyone where he was going and because Gajeel-San was too young at the time to take over so Jose took his spot and is going to hold it until the rightful heir gets married. In truth all of the princes are looking for that special one at this time because it's time that all of them have taken over their parent's spots but for me I'm still too young of course. I hear Gajeel-San may have already found someone but I know how stubborn he can be so it might take a while for him to say anything to the girl and I hear that both Natsu-San and Sting-San have found someone as well." Wendy beamed while throwing all of this information at the brunette.

Artemis froze in her chair at the mention of Natsu finding someone, that someone being her herself. She just hoped that Wendy didn't know that but by the way Wendy was looking at her she bet she did. What confused her thought was that Wendy had said Sting found someone too but if he did wouldn't Artemis have seen that someone with Sting the times that she had seen him, well if not at PhantomLord than at least at the ball right? For some reason the thought of that . . . ate at the brunette's heart painfully.

"You know . . . who those girls are don't you?" Artemis asked uncomfortably.

"Yeah I do and I know that you're the one that Natsu and Sting have fallen for." Wendy answered.

Artemis's eyes darted from outside back to Wendy in a heartbeat. Did she really just say that Natsu and sting liked her? Just great, something more to add to her problems. Feeling the stress overwhelm her Artemis rubbed her face and tried to calm herself down as she counted out her current problems. First PhantomLord is chasing her, then she had guilt eating at her for what happened to Natsu's kingdom, now she's stuck in some crazy love triangle with two of the princes who helped in keeping her protected, was there anything else that would love to pop up now while she was still running things over in her mind?

"Maybe I shouldn't have overwhelmed you with that; I'm sorry Artemis-San." Wendy apologized.

"No. . . It's fine, it's just . . . I don't think I feel the way they do. Something made me reject Natsu before and I barely even know Sting so I don't believe that I can return their feelings and even if so I wouldn't know which one to choose." The brunette sighed and stood from the chair making her way to Wendy's door, "I think I'm going to go get some air and think things over."

With that Artemis left the princess alone in her room once more. On the way down the hallway Wendy's final words that she spoke before the door closed played through her mind making the stress even a little worse than it already was.

"_Natsu-san and Sting-san are stubborn and they won't stop until they get what they want, please be careful Artemis-San."_


	17. Chapter 17

Artemis was overwhelmed by this point. She had so much to handle and she had no clue what she needed to settle first, well she knew it'd be best to get Phantom out of the way fist but her other problems seemed to be bothering her more than that was and she was having trouble just focusing in on one at the current moment. She ran her fingers through her brown locks and curled her fingers before pulling hard making her head tilt to the left quickly. If only that would solve everything, she'd pull on her hair hard enough and jerk her head around so that her problems would just be jerked out of her mind and she wouldn't have to remember that any of this was happening. If only life were that simple for her but no, life was throwing one surprise after another at her and she couldn't seem to handle any of them.

Sighing, the teen stood from her resting spot on one of the garden benches and began making her way back into the castle. If fresh air wasn't helping her stress then she would at least try a shower and a small nap. Artemis would try anything at this point to make herself calm down and forget all of this even if it wasn't for forever. Her hand reached for the handle of the door that led back inside and when she opened up the door she was met with Grandeeney and Wendy, and two men on the other side of the door.

The one to Grandeeney's right wore dark purple and black garments and his hair was brown and spiky. A scar ran over his eye that he kept closed. The way he stood with his arms folded over his chest didn't make him seem too friendly. The other man didn't seem that friendly either but at least he wasn't standing in some position that seemed as if he blocked himself off from you. His hair was blonde and shorter than the other's and he also bared a scar over one of his eyes but his wasn't just straight down like the other's, his looked like it formed a lightning bolt.

"Oh I wasn't expecting to see you here Artemis, sorry if we startled you." Grandeeney apologized.

"Ah, no it's alright I was just heading back to my room." The brunette replied.

"Well how about you join us? We were going to have lunch out here and I'm sure it's been awhile since you last ate."

As if Artemis's stomach understood it rumbled quietly making the teen become embarrassed. The queen chuckled softly and beckoned her to follow after all of them in which she did. Artemis stayed close to Wendy and Grandeeney not feeling comfortable by the unknown men standing behind her. She was seated next to Wendy at one of the garden tables and a crossed from the male brunette, the blonde male sitting next to him and Grandeeney at the very end of the table. One of the butlers came around and poured them all drinks before bowing and walking off to go get their lunch. Artemis stared at her darkened reflection within her glass and licked her lips to keep herself from being the one to break the silence that she hated.

"Artemis," She heard the young bluenette whispered next to her, "Why don't you introduce yourself?"

The said teen shook her head no and looked back down into her cup. She wasn't normally this shy, she was able to introduce herself rather well to Natsu and Sting and then Rogue and Gajeel back the ball. The brunette just didn't feel like announcing who she was because for all she knew everyone might've known that PhantomLord was after her by now and that she was the reason why Pyre had been burnt down. She didn't feel like having that reputation for the rest of her life but she guessed that she couldn't change that now.

"Artemis," It was Grandeeney this time, "This is Laxus and the other one is Cobra. They're both from the royal families of the countries not far from here. Laxus is the heir of Fairy Tail and Cobra is the heir of Oroceain Seis."

Artemis nodded politely at the two and gave a hello as each one was distinguished before Grandeeney told them who Artemis was. She shyly looked down at her lap not wanting to see their reactions just in case they did know who she was and pinched the fabric of her dress. She felt them staring at her and Wendy poked her arm which caused her to look up slightly so that her eyes were aligned with her beverage again.

"You're the one PhantomLord is after aren't you?"

Artemis wasn't sure if it was Laxus or Cobra who had asked her the question but she nodded her head to let them now that she was indeed the one who started all this chaos. A firm grunt came from the other one who hadn't asked her the question since the voice sounded different and it made Artemis stiffen in her seat. She felt uncomfortable in this situation and wished that she was up in her room taking her nap right now.

"So that's why you asked her to join us?"

"Yes." Grandeeney answered.

The brunette shifted her head and glanced confusingly at Cait Shelter's queen who gently smiled back at her. Just what was that supposed to mean? She wasn't invited for eating but for something else? Well she should've guessed that princes from other kingdoms wouldn't just travel away from their homes to another kingdom to have lunch and it certainly wouldn't be common that princes from two _different_ kingdoms would end up coming to the same one to have lunch. Artemis internally groaned at herself for not realizing that sooner but if that was the case why would they need her for what looked like some royal meeting?

"You probably have her confused now." Laxus sighed.

"Most likely." Grandeeney agreed and looked back at the brunette, "You see Artemis, almost every kingdom has been waiting for a chance to get at PhantomLord for the past few years. We didn't always dislike the kingdom it just so happened that we began to dislike it after its rightful king had disappeared-"

"Gajeel's father Metalicana."Artemis interrupted so that Grandeeney knew that she recognized a little of what she was talking about.

"Well it seems that know a little about it already."

"Yes and that Jose has claimed the throne until Gajeel has gotten married so that he can take the throne like he's supposed to. . . It sounds like he's caused more problems than just this, hasn't he?" Artemis asked.

"Indeed he has. Igneel and Weisslogia have caught him doing; well I'm sure you probably can guess what they had caught him doing since you were almost a victim to it." Grandeeney sighed.

Artemis nodded her head and shivered slightly. The image of her dungeon friend Juvia came back, the picture of the axe flying down onto her wasn't to pretty and it made Artemis press her lips into a fine line as she closed her eyes to erase the memory before opening them again. When she really thought about it she knew that the one who really should've been up there was her and not Juvia but Juvia took her place because that girl knew what Artemis wanted, Juvia had saved her so that Artemis could see Celestine at some point in her life.

"He murdered innocent people who weren't even from his kingdom and he even abused those who did live there. I met someone there though who was really nice and she's one of the reasons why I'm still alive. She told me that. . . Jose makes his people believe that everyone on the outside of his kingdom is their enemy." Artemis explained, her eyebrows pulling together as she tried to figure out if she said that right.

". . . I figured as much. Jose just wants power and that was pretty clear awhile ago." Cobra sighed and folded his arms once more.

"Is there anything else you remember that may help us Artemis-San?" Wendy questioned.

"Well . . . I believe that Juvia said he locked her up because he had been upset with her but I don't know if that helps. He also told me himself that no outsider has ever gotten out of his kingdom, well except for the royal families that is." Artemis answered.

"I see and now Jose is coming after you because you were able to escape. I guess he's doing it so that you don't end up telling anyone from other kingdoms what he's really like but it's a little late for that." Laxus chimed in.

"Well I guess he really doesn't care if anyone figures out what he's up to anymore, I mean he has already destroyed all of Igneel's kingdom and I'm sure he won't just stop there. Knowing that he was after you he might come here to Cait Shelter next." Grandeeney stated and leaned forward in her seat.

Artemis's green hued eyes widened as she stared into her glass. Her lips parted as she thought of another kingdom being burnt down all because of her, all because Jose was after some commoner like her. She didn't want that to happen to Wendy's family too it just wouldn't be fair to them. The brunette didn't believe that everyone should have gotten involved. It was moments like these that the teen wished that Sting hadn't stepped in to save her, that Juvia hadn't stepped up to save her life. She heard the sound of plates being set down in front of her and noticed that their lunch had arrived but the previous conversation had wiped out any appetite she had built up. As the others began to eat she stood up from her chair and pushed it back in.

"I'm sorry but I'm not hungry anymore. I'll be up in my room if you need me." She mumbled and walked away.

She could hear Grandeeney telling one of them to leave her alone and let her be. The brunette was at least grateful that she heard someone sticking next her and understanding the stress she was going through but alas there were times when she wished her hearing wasn't as good because it would let her hear things she wished she didn't, those things leading to her becoming hurt or angry or upset just like the last thing she heard made her curiosity bubble up and bother her once again.

"Poor girl is so stressed already I just can't help but wonder how she'll handle herself when _he_ arrives."


	18. Chapter 18

"_. . . Artemis. . ."_

"_. . . Artemis. . ."_

_The brunette spun in circles as she stood in the darkness all alone trying to find the two different voices calling her name. The sound of wood popping in a fire rattled out from the endless dark color in front of her making her heart pound against her rib cage frantically like it was looking for a way out. Her breath was short and shaky and she could feel the beads of sweat rolling down her forehead. Artemis wanted to speak out but when she tried to she felt her that her throat was to sore and dry to allow her to utter even a simple sound._

"_Run Artemis!"_

_The urgency in the voice startled her so much that she couldn't help but listen. Her feet began to move leading her further into the dark abyss where she had no clue what would be lying within. Each step she took shattered the disturbing silence that filled the dark void. But her footsteps weren't the only ones ringing through the dark; someone else was following her, running after her. The teen screwed her eyes shut and pumped her legs harder, her inner thoughts screaming at her to go faster. The brunette suddenly felt herself being tossed forward and falling onto her face as if she tripped but what was there to trip on!? Air!? She felt the side of her face hit what seemed like some thick glass floor that allowed her to see the darkness below herself. She would have gotten up and to run again but the footsteps were so loud and sounded so close now that she didn't think it was worth it anymore. All the brunette did was curl herself up into a ball and placed the palms of her hands to the back of her head waiting for her pursuer to catch up to her._

"_Artemis!"_

"_Artemis run away!"_

_All at once everything ceased and a heavy silence lifted through her ears once more. The pounding footsteps were no more and the screaming of both voices had stopped. Artemis let her eyes flutter open slowly and she sat up in her spot, her olive toned eyes scanning her surroundings slowly. She felt a set of fingers curl themselves gently onto her shoulder and she whirled around with her hand curled into a fist ready to defend herself but it was only stopped by the others free hand._

_The person who had been crouching behind her wasn't what the teen had been expecting at all, she hadn't been expecting a friend. The sight of him made her heart twist but she didn't understand why he would be the one with burn marks on him. He hadn't been in a fire that she had known of and his kingdom certainly wasn't burned down because she would have known about with how fast news travels these days. It hurt her to see him this way, his skin tainted with black marks and pin tendered skin, his chest moving quickly like he was searching for as much air as he could. The male pulled Artemis into a gentle embrace, the thought of him hugging her any tighter probably would have brought him pain from his wounds. Artemis parted her lips to say something but nothing seemed to want to come out from her mouth._

"_Artemis . . . run."_

_The said girl's eyes widened when he spoke to her. His voice had been one of the ones who had spoken to her but his was the one who spoke more than the other, his was the one who had been telling her to run but from what? Had something been after her? Was that what gave him the burn marks because he was holding it off for her to get away? Artemis didn't know the answers to these questions and the only thing that kept repeating itself around the rest of all of it was what he was called, just that one word which was his name._

"_. . . Sting. . ." She whispered._

* * *

Artemis sprung up in her bed, her nails digging harshly into the sheets of her bed while her panting sounded rapidly through the room. She looked through the windows to her left and wiped the sweat from her brow. The sun was almost up fully in the sky which allowed Artemis to guess that there wasn't much time left until noon time. She threw her covers off and slipped out of trying to erase the crazy dream she woke up from mere moments ago. A dress was already neatly lain out for her on top of the cushioned chair a crossed her room. She picked it up and found that today's attire would be made of a royal blue fabric. She made her way into the bathroom and quickly changed into the dress from her nightclothes before pulling her hair up and pinning it with a jeweled hair clip, she slightly curled the remaining chunks of hair in the front that weren't long enough to reach and be clipped in the back with the rest.

The brunette found a tray of food set on her nightstand when she stepped out of the bathroom. She handed the maid who had been waiting outside the door her clothes and then watched her leave. Artemis gladly walked over to the food and began to eat since she had not eaten anything yesterday after she rejected the food at lunch. The memory of the conversation made her shiver as she picked up her glass and began to drink the light brown liquid content inside which tasted like tea. The newspaper set on the tray was what she picked up after she finished with her meal, the first picture on the front page making the corners of her mouth turn down and the paper to sag in her hands. She saw nothing but a crumbled house that had been probably once a beautiful home for someone back in the Pyre kingdom. The picture showed its remaining ashes along with its support beams that had collapsed and in the middle of the picture, the one thing that caught Artemis's eye the most was the stuffed bunny rabbit that lay there with a missing leg and ear, a stuffed animal that had once been loved by a small girl but now had no owner and was sitting there in a pile of ashes all alone. Artemis closed her eyes and placed the paper back onto the tray with the cover page laying face down. She buried her face in her hands and tried to fight the sobs bubbling up within her throat and the tears rushing up to the rims of her eyes. Nothing but the words 'It's my entire fault' repeated like a record player through her mind making her feel terrible. The moment she felt as if she couldn't hold in the tears and sobs anymore a loud crash came from down the hall outside her room's door. The female's head shot up while her eyes became fixated on her white marbled door. Another crash sounded and it was a lot louder than the first. She heard muffled voices and a pair of footsteps running quickly in the direction of her room. Artemis slowly stood from her bed and walked towards the door with her eyebrows pulled together in curiosity as to what was happening outside her room. She didn't even make it half way to her door before it flew open and slammed against the wall revealing a male panting and leaning on his knees, a flying feline that much resembled happy but had brown fur and a fancy blue vest hovering behind and looking down at him worriedly.

Artemis stood there shocked to see this particular male standing in her doorway out of breath. His head flew up and his sapphire eyes bored into her, a look of relief washed over his face as a smile crept onto his face and . . . tears pricked the corners of his eyes? He rushed forward and pulled Artemis into a bone smashing hug as he chuckled into her hair, a mixture of very faint sobs finding their way into his soft chuckles.

"You're ok . . . I thought you didn't make it out of that fire and nobody I had asked ever said anything or heard anything about a girl named Artemis. I so glad you made it out . . . So glad." He chuckled into her pinned up hair.

". . . Sting. . ." Artemis whispered just as if she were reliving a better version of her dream.


	19. Chapter 19

It was hard explaining everything to Sting due to the guilty feeling jabbing at her heart as Artemis explained. The expressions the washed over Sting's face at certain points during her explanation made the brunette worry on how he had been taking her explanation overall but it seemed like he was still more relieved to see her alive more than anything else. The only thing he repeated from her whole mini story was the part on how she used magic to protect Natsu. That seemed to have sparked some excitement in him since he was dragging her to the back of the castle currently and explaining things about magic that seemed like a whole bunch of jibberish falling from his lips to Artemis.

"S-Slow down Sting, I don't understand a thing you're saying." She sighed hoping he would hear her over his own voice that was still resounding through the garden.

Sting sighed and stopped moving upon reaching the middle of the garden before letting go of her wrist and turning to explain it better to her. "I guess it's hard to understand if you're just starting out with magic. Ok let me start over, not everyone uses magic which is pretty much common knowledge but those that do use magic like you and I hold it within their bodies, it's like a free flowing network within one's self that runs on will power or emotions if you'd like to think of it as that, after awhile you can also learn to use just off of instinct when needed. Magic isn't really that easy to be explained since it's just something that's free and can technically run off on its own. Our body is more like the base of operations I guess. You can control it but it takes time and practice which is what I'm about to help you with! After we're done you'll be able to put up barriers that could protect a good sized group of people."

"Uhh, I'm not sure I understand yet." The female admitted playing with the curled strand of hair framing the right side of her face.

"Well it'll be easier for you to understand once you get the hang of things. Right now I want you to think of how you felt when you went to go protect Natsu-San and see if you can put up that barrier again." The dragon slayer instructed while holding up a single finger.

Artemis felt her cheeks flush at how Sting worded it. Sure any person would understand what he really meant but in her situation and place it was a tad bit awkward. She ignored the thought though and took a few steps away from the blonde. She didn't really know how she was supposed to place herself so she just tried the positions she had been in at the time she first made the blue protective shell. One arm overlapped the other so that her arms looked like an 'x' as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She pulled her eyebrows together as she concentrated and continued to breathe deeply as she thought back to that moment when she panicked and ran to help Natsu. After a few moments she stuck her hands out in front of her and opened her eyes slowly but the blue shield wasn't there. She sighed frustrated and dropped her arms to her sides.

"You know if you get mad like that so quickly then you'll never improve. Try thinking positive will you?" Sting told her and folded his arms along his chest, "anyway try telling me how you felt when you first put up the barrier so I can see if I can help you. Maybe going through something similar again will help to trigger it."

"You mean you're gonna put me in danger?" Artemis asked giving him a look that didn't read such a pleasant emotion.

"Did those words ever come out of my mouth? Didn't think so now, just tell me how you felt."

". . . Fine, well I definitely felt panicked and I was scared that I wouldn't be able to reach Natsu in time to help him. . . I guess you could also say that I was determined in a way, determined to save him I guess." The brunette explained all while shrugging her shoulders.

She watched Sting think it over for a few moments before he began to walk a crossed the center of the garden, his new spot being in front of one of the garden statues. The statue looked like a miniature dragon and it held an uncovered blade in its stone mouth. The blonde yanked that sword from its mouth and threw it straight up in the air. Artemis raised a brow confused by his actions until she saw the blade spiraling down straight to his head. Her emerald eyes widened as she began to panic and breath heavily. _'Is he insane?! '_. The brunette bolted forward and skidded to a halt right in front of him, her hands being thrown up above her head and her eyes being closed tightly. She listened closely as the sword hit something above her and bounced onto the ground with a sound that almost resembled someone dropping glass plates behind her. She let her eyes crack open and she looked above her to see that familiar blue shell fading away above her. After watching it fade away she let her arms drop to her sides like she'd been holding weights over her head for a half an hour and leaned forward, Sting's hands taking a place on her shoulders so that he could steady her.

"Are you insane!?" Artemis snapped glaring at the blonde who simply shrugged at her.

"It worked didn't it?" He grinned.

Artemis rolled her eyes and gently pushed herself away from him. She still didn't see the point in why he had to endanger himself just to get her to use her shield. It's not like it helped her to control her magic or anything like that now did it? She didn't think so at least so since it had no point that just made her even angrier at the Sabertooth prince. She watched Sting sigh and scratch his head knowing that she wasn't too happy with him but her glare wasn't doing much to him but it wasn't like she expected anything else. He's a prince after all and a dragon slayer, Artemis was sure that he had seen things ten times worse than her glare.

"Ok be mad at me all you like but you're at least going to keep training while you do it." Sting demanded and folded his arms along his chest.

"Yeah, yeah."

* * *

Artemis was dead tired by the time her training was over and she was ready to scarf down at least three plates of food because she hadn't eaten anything since breakfast, on the upside for her though she was at least happy that she learned to put up her shield without having to be in a panic about even if her time was limited with it. She had been seated between Sting and Wendy and a crossed from Cobra again as she ate the food that had been prepared for them. This was something that Artemis had been enjoying ever since the royal families had kept her hiding in their homes, the food she was able to eat. The brunette came from a poor family so she wasn't used to all this pampering and all of the fancy foods and clothes she was given. It wasn't like she trying to sound greedy by this thought but she couldn't help but to enjoy it, she didn't know when her last meal would be anymore anyway.

After dinner she walked herself to her room and took a bath before changing into a light nightgown. She opened the door to her balcony and walked over to the railing before propping her elbows on it and placing the palms of her hands against her cheeks. The stars were clear here in Cait Shelter and she loved it. Artemis always had a thing for looking up at the stars but she was never able to get a good enough view all the time back in Magnolia. Her green orbs scanned the sky until she spotted her favorite constellation, Draco which was the dragon constellation. Once she learned about the dragon slayers in her younger years she seemed to become obsessed with them and she would always run around the house pretending she was a dragon herself. Of course her parents would always get a crack out of it whenever she would say that she was going to be a dragon slayer herself and her parents knew that that was something that was never going to happen but that never stopped her little mind's large and wild imagination. Later on in life though, Artemis guessed that she stopped thinking such things when her imagination drifted away from her because she had to focus on more important things like taking care of her father. Her eyes became half-lidded as the thought of her father drifted by. She couldn't help but worry and hope that he was alright and that PhantomLord hadn't reached him in Magnolia somehow since she knew he wouldn't be able to protect himself they way he used to before the accident ten years ago with her mother.

_Crash!_

Artemis spun around and ran back into her room closing the door behind her. Her eyes scanned over her untouched room, nothing broken or shattered a crossed the floor. She hesitantly walked over to her door and cracked it open. There in front of her door was a vase shattered into tiny shards a crossed the navy blue carpet and the flowers it held squashed into the carpet's material. The brunette slipped out from behind her door and shut it behind her quietly.

"Hello?" She called nervously.

"So this is who Jose wanted me to get? Aren't you a beauty?"

The female felt her heart skip a few beats at the mention of PhantomLord's king. She shifted her head to the side to spot a man in dark robes standing behind her. A shadow covered his eyes and all she could see as the strands of black hair peeking out from the top of his hood and the sadistic smile he had plastered to his lips. That wasn't what concerned the brunette though, what worried her was the blade that was clutched into his hand and shimmered against the moonlight through the window.


	20. Chapter 20

The air in Artemis's throat was like a ball that refused to move and refused to let her breath normally. Her heart rate felt like it was going at speeds that no normal human being had ever experienced before and all her eyes could focus on was that blade with the moonlight shimmering off of it into her eyes. She shifted herself slowly so that her back wasn't facing the man yet her front side wasn't exposed completely to him either, the shattered pieces of the vase moved and shifted around as her foot hit them gently.

"W-Who are you?" The female asked, her arm going up in front of her out of instinct to protect herself.

"Me? I don't think that matters but if you'd like to call me something just call me a face hunter, someone who's a part of an elite assassination group." The man replied and stepped forward with the blade rising from his side.

"What d-do you want with m-me?" She stuttered, the assassination group idea putting her into a worse panic.

"You? That's an easy one, I'm here to retrieve what I've been told to target and that would be you." The man answered without hesitation.

Artemis assumed that the man, or face hunter, wouldn't care if he told her everything he was supposed to do since he seemed like he thought he was going to get away with it, whatever it was anyway. Artemis backed away from the advancing male and lifted her other arm for protection making the 'x' that indicated she was ready to her shield as she needed though the brunette would have to be careful for it still drained her rather quickly even if she had improved with it.

"Such a shame to kill such a beauty. You look like you'll give me a hard time and since you have four dragon slayers currently resting here that just makes my odds even worse. It's a good thing that his highness told me I could bring you back alive _or_ dead." He chuckled.

He lunged at Artemis while she quickly shifted her hand in front of her, a smaller blue shield that replicated her usual larger one formed around her hand which helped to block the blade which he swung at her. She stumbled back trying to gain distance from the face hunter who was constantly trying to get the blade to connect with her skin in a fatal way. Artemis already felt her magic dropping from forming so many small shields at once to protect herself that she knew that she would have no choice but to turn and run in hopes of finding Sting's room and wake him up to help her. It was a good thing he told her where his room was during their training session earlier in the day but now she wasn't quite sure she'd be able to make it their before her life was literally ripped away from her.

The brunette used the last bit of strength she felt that she had left to form a large barrier that stretched from the wall next to her to the windows about five feet to her left. The man who happened to have already lunged at her as she made the barrier had no way of stopping which caused him to slam into the blue wall and fall backwards, his blade slipping from his hand and sliding under one of the small stands that held another flower vase. She took this time to turn and run in the direction of the blonde prince's room while the assassin behind her scrambled for his knife quickly in hopes of not letting too much distance get between them. Artemis took a sharp left down a new hall and mentally screamed at herself to run faster even if her depleted magic was making her lack the strength she needed at the moment. After another left and a right down two more halls she found herself rushing down the hall she believed Sting's room to be down. If she remembered correctly he had told her that his room was the fifth door on the right in which she scrambled to stop in front of. Without any hesitation the frightened girl slammed the door open and rushed into the room as it connected with the wall causing a loud _'bang'_ to erupt through the room and a little into the hallway.

Artemis's emerald eyes scanned the room wildly hoping to find any sign of someone being in here but all that was there were traces of someone having been here earlier. The bed sheets were all messed up which looked as if someone had thrown them away so they could get out of bed and the window was slightly cracked to let in the cool night air but other than that nothing about the room gave Artemis any hope of finding help here, a complete dead end for her. She rushed to the window and opened it wider to see if anyone was outside that she could scream to but nothing occupied the garden below besides a few birds and other small animals that bustled their way through the bushes and flower beds.

"Looks like a dead end for you sweetheart."

The brunette whirled around to find the man standing right behind her, his sadistic smile still spread a crossed his face. He had his blade placed firmly into the palm of his hand once more and had begun to shuffle towards the younger one. Artemis's looked frantically for a way around him but she had so little space to move around in him that there was no way of getting around him with the current speed she could move at due to depleted energy and she didn't feel like she would be able to put another one of her shields that would be able to stay intact long enough for her to maneuver around the face hunter. She had really hoped sting would be here to help her but that option seemed to be thrown out the window and she had no clue where Laxus or Cobra's rooms were so that option was also out of the question. She knew where Wendy's room was but even if she could get around this guy and to Wendy Artemis knew that Wendy's magic was mostly for support so the young girl wouldn't be able to hold the man off for that long so that Artemis could get away. It would give the teen even more guilt if she knew that she left a young girl, the princess of this kingdom all by herself to fight an assassin just so she could get away. Artemis didn't feel like bearing the title of 'Young Girl and Princess Murderer' all her life.

"Look at you, so fragile and helpless. I wonder how many people have been killed just for you to be able to escape for this long." The male mused and tilted his head slightly, his hood finally shifting just enough for Artemis to spot his golden eyes, beady ones that seemed as if they were staring right through her.

She had lost her words somewhere inside her jumbled mind after hearing the man's words fall from his lips. How many people have been killed? As if it were an old childhood habit she began to list off the people she knew had been hurt or killed in the process of protecting her or because of her in general, Juvia, Romeo, all those people caught in Pyre's destruction, . . . and Natsu, him most of all had to have been the one she caused the most pain to both physically and mentally. Tears pooled in her green orbs quickly and slipped down her cheeks. She wanted it to end, right now realizing and thinking everything over made her want to kill herself and rid her from this world so no one else had to get hurt, she wanted this face hunter guy to kill her no matter if she still wanted to finish living the years she knew she still had left but she could live through them knowing she caused so many people pain and that she would have to live with all that guilt for the rest of her life.

". . . Many. . ." She whispered.

"What?" The man asked confused by her simple word.

"Many people have been hurt and killed because of me and I don't want that to happen anymore." She replied and curled her fingers so that her nails dug into the palms of her hands roughly.

The man had said nothing about her statement and didn't bother to comment on it. He seemed bored by what she said to be perfectly honest so he carried on with his task and inched closer to Artemis until he was a mere five inches from her, the blade raised above his head. Artemis closed her eyes and waited for him to strike. The sound of the blade whistling through the air rung against her eardrums as the sound of piercing skin followed but she felt no pain once so ever. She sat there confused until her eyes cracked open to find a hand gripped around the dagger's blade, blood trickled through his fingers and stained the blade and the rug as it slowly dripped down from a cut that was probably formed onto his hand. The brunette sat there with her eyes as wide as saucers when she looked at who was standing right next to her, his blonde hair shading his eyes.

"If you think I'm going to sit here and watch you let this guy kill you. . ." Sting began and shifted his head so that his blue eyes pierced through her fiercely, ". . . You're completely insane."


	21. Chapter 21

Artemis pounded on the door relentlessly yelling for the dragon slayer on the other side to let her out. Sting had thrown the face hunter out of the room and locked Artemis on the inside while he himself finished the brunette's fight with the assassin. The only reason for Artemis not being able to leave and help him was that the door's lock needed magic to lock and unlock it and sadly her small amount of magic was still running on low charge so she couldn't open the door herself.

"Sting!" She shouted while her hand hammered away on the door.

He never answered her like all the other times she had called his name of course but the sounds of painful growls and small shouts erupted from the other side of the door. She hadn't been keeping track of the time so the female had no clue how long Sting had been dragging this fight out. There was no way a simple assassin could be giving someone like Sting, a dragon slayer, this much trouble which is what alarmed Artemis the most.

"Sting! Sting let me out!"

Again no response from the male. She pressed her forehead to the door and listened hoping she'd be able to make out who was winning but their grunting and shouting had ceased to fill her ears. She grew worried waiting for something to happen and the silence put a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. She raised her hand one more time and pulled away from the door but before she had a chance to hit the marbled object she heard the door unlock and she was greeted by a blonde on the other side. Her green eyes roamed over him, his clothes were defaced and he had two cuts along his right arm and one that ran a crossed his left cheek, and she noticed his chest heaved up and down as he let out uneven breaths of air. Minus the burn marks he looked the same way he had in her dream last night which frightened her. Behind him on the floor was the assassin all sprawled out and beaten to a bloody pulp but him painful groans allowed the female to realize he was still alive. She averted her attention back to the still standing male; a soft smile was washing away all the pain he had been showing before while he ran a hand through his hair.

"Well that wasn't as easy as I thought it'd be." He chuckled.

Artemis stared at him in disbelief. He was laughing at a time like this? The brunette shook her head faintly; not being able to comprehend this man in front of her was slowly starting to get on her nerves. Sting's soft smile turned into a cheeky grin as he walked back to the battered body on the floor which also left room for Artemis to finally leave the room herself. She stood by the man's feet while Sting crouched next to him and gingerly lifted the dagger the man had been using, his nose wrinkling slightly in disgust when he did so.

"It smells like this thing was completely soaked down in poison." Sting stated and held the thing as far away from his face, his nose more specifically, as possibly.

"Poison!?But Sting you-"

"I'll be fine, besides he didn't cut me deep and I'll have Wendy fix me when she gets here." He shrugged cutting off Artemis's panic attack.

"W-What?" The brunette questioned while tilting her head to the side slightly.

"The noise I made while fighting this guy probably disturbed some of the guards a few halls down so I'm sure most of the castle knows by now and plus with my dragon ears I can hear Wendy and the others coming right about. . .now." He said with a proud grin.

"Artemis-San! Sting-San! Are you two alright!?"

The teen blinked a few times as she watched the bluenette run up the hall to both her and Sting with Cobra and Laxus in tow. Wendy took notice to Sting's wounds and quickly went to work healing them while Cobra and Laxus examined the groaning man on the floor like he was some science project they were about to begin working on. Artemis was the only one standing there like an oddball trying to figure out just what she was supposed to be doing or if she was to be doing anything at all in that moment.

"Artemis don't just stand there come here. I want to check you to see if got you with that dagger without you realizing it while Wendy's healing me." Sting told her snapping her out of her trance.

She felt her face flush slightly and was at least glad it was dark so that he wouldn't see it. She hesitantly sat down on the spot Sting had patted with his hand and looked away from him. Not only was it awkward that he of all people had to check her over but the others were standing right there next to them as well. His hands gently gripped her arms and shoulders as she felt him twist and turn her, his hand occasionally landing on her waist which made her flinch which also made a cycle of him touching her waist, her flinching, and then him looking at that spot multiple times. She was about to get up and tell him that she was perfectly fine since he wasn't finding anything but that was only until his hand grazed over the middle of her back causing her to breath sharply.

". . . Wendy I want you to heal her back when you're finished just in case." She heard Sting mutter as he retracted his hands from her skin.

"Alright." The bluenette replied.

"I'm fine really I would've felt the dagger hit me. You don't have to heal me Wendy you'll just be wasting your energy." Artemis tried to reason but that only left a sour look on Sting's face.

He reached his hands out once more and pulled the zipper on the back of her dress halfway down the full length it could go, Artemis letting out a yelp of embarrassment. Just that much was enough for Wendy and Sting to see the cut on her back which was frankly deeper than any of the ones Sting had received. The blonde gently pressed his thumb to the unharmed skin around it and frowned more than he was.

"Hey! You don't just go around unzipping other's dresses!" The brunette snapped causing Cobra and Laxus to look their way finally.

"Relax It's not like it's a hobby of mine I was just trying to see if I was right or not which frankly I am. I told you that Dagger was soaked to the hilt with poison and if you left that untreated you'd end up with results you wouldn't really want for your health. Be grateful I did what I did, that cut is long and it looks deep enough that the amount of poison the probably got in would be enough to kill you." The dragon slayer sighed irritably not liking the fact that she wasn't looking out for herself.

Artemis gulped upon hearing that it would've killed her but luckily once Wendy had finished up with Sting and had gotten to her the wound was as good as new, or course Wendy healed her back inside the room so they had some privacy. The brunette was told that all that would remain was a faint scar, a long and thin mark down her back that may stay slightly darker than the rest of her normal skin color. She didn't care about that though; she already had a tiny scar running along the back of her ankle from an early childhood mishap so it wasn't like this one was going to affect her anymore than the other one did.

Once she stepped out of the room along with Wendy they found Grandeeney hovering over the face hunter's body with Cobra and Laxus standing on either side of her. The expression on the queen's face was one that almost made the guilt eat away at Artemis completely. Now that everything was calm the brunette really thought about the possibilities of this event now that the man wouldn't be going back to Jose anytime in the next century or at all for that matter. She knew that if he didn't go back, go back with her more specifically, Jose was going to come here next to Cait Shelter, the closest kingdom next to Pyre and Artemis didn't want that to happen. There was no way she could stand watching another kingdom crumble to the ground. She lifted her hand to her mouth and pressed her finger to her lips to try and keep herself from letting out a sob bubbling up in her throat while two of Cait Shelter's guards lifted the man to his feet and put cuffs around his wrists. His golden orbs that were surrounded by black and blue marks looked straight at Artemis, a sinister smile curling his lips upward startling the brunette.

"You can't run forever girl! Jose will get you he always gets what he wants! You won't get away from him forever! It's not possible! He'll get you just you wait! He will . . . He'll get you . . ."

The man kept repeating his words all the way down the hall and until his voice couldn't be heard. His first sentence was enough to get that single tear to slip from the teen's emerald eyes, which tear that, was caught by everyone. Sting quickly placed his hands over her ears blocking anymore of the man's unbearable words from reaching her ears.

"Ignore him, none of us will let Jose get to you . . . I won't let that happen." He whispered in her ear once he uncovered them.

"Well now that tonight's excitement has been taken to where he belongs it looks like there's a few things that need to be tied up here still since you're all leaving in the morning." Grandeeney sighed while her arms found a place to rest along her chest, "We can start by saying that this impending war will unfortunately happen at a sooner rate than any of us hoped."

"That's for sure." Cobra muttered.

"We'll go home and alert those in the royal families who haven't received such information. From there it'll be up to the heads of the families to decide what to do then." Laxus stated firmly.

"That sounds good enough to me. There's only one more thing I want to address." Grandeeney said while turning and looking straight at Artemis, "You, young lady, are not safe here in Cait Shelter anymore, not after tonight's events. It'd be best if you relocate."

"Yeah but where do-"

"You'll come with me, back to Sabertooth. I did tell you that I'd like you to visit it when we first met did I not?" The blonde beside her smiled down at her.

"yeah but-"

"Well if that's what you think is best Prince Sting then I guess she'll go with you to Sabertooth in the morning. I'll have carriages waiting for all of you in the morning so why don't you all go and get some rest, oh and it's been a pleasure to have you stay here at Cait Shelter miss. Elise." Grandeeney cut her off and smiled at her gently before disappearing down another hall with Wendy, Cobra, and Laxus right behind her.

"Great." Artemis sighed tugging on her chestnut colored bangs.

"Hey cheer up! You'll have tons of fun when we get to Sabertooth I'm sure! We always seem to hold a lot of festivals there and you'll get to meet my father too!" Sting beamed giving her that cheeky smile from before while walking off down the hall.

"Oh yeah, I didn't really get to meet your father the way I did with Natsu's did I?" The brunette whispered to herself.

"Come on! You need your rest. I'll walk you back to your room to make sure you get there safely." He said while looking back at her and placing his hands behind his head.

Artemis nodded and began to follow him. Her eyes glanced at the back of his head and the ghostly feelings of his hands were lingering on her back. The conversation Wendy had with her the other day suddenly came to mind and a soft smile tugged to the brunette's lips. She didn't understand it but there was something about him, something different and she liked it . . . _a lot_.


	22. Chapter 22

Artemis gazed out the window of the carriage she sat in, Sting sitting a crossed from her doing the same though his eyes occasionally drifted from the window to her just to see her reaction to certain things. The brunette found that people here dressed slight more formal than those in the previous kingdoms she had been to. To her it was like there weren't many people of her class here in Sabertooth, that or they were just in their own little area that they weren't going to be passing through. Even the few amounts of children she saw them pass were dressed nicely, little girls in dresses of mostly pastel colors and small boys running after each other in a nice undershirt and an occasional vest on one or two of them.

"It seems like it's just as peaceful here as it is back home and in Pyre and Cait Shelter." Artemis stated.

"Of course, every kingdom tries to be like that, err, well almost every kingdom." Sting sighed and pulled his gaze back to the window from her, "A few of them seem a little hyper though but that's only because there was a festival here while I was away."

"Why didn't you stay to enjoy it then?" Artemis asked while looking at him from the corner of her eye.

"I had more important matters to attend to like getting to that meeting back at Cait Shelter and checking up on something. Just because I'm royalty doesn't mean I can lounge around all day doing nothing or going out on my merry way having fun." The blonde answered smiling a little because he knew that she was probably thinking that from the start of her question.

"Check up on something?"

"It's nothing you need to worry about really; look we're almost at the castle."

Artemis bit the inside of her cheek not wanting to press into the matter much farther just in case it would tick him off but she was definitely blaming him for arousing her curiosity. Dropping that topic she peered out of the window once more to catch a glimpse of the castle. It was larger than Cait Shelter's castle that was for sure, probably as big as the one that is _was_ in Pyre. The structure was made up of a beautiful dark colored marble though she noticed that the color became lighter as the carriage round to the back of the castle.

"Why are we going in through the back?" The female asked confused as her body jerked forward slightly from the carriage coming to a stop.

"Don't you remember what I told you when we first met? My kingdom is split, and run by two rulers. The castle was also split in half in a sense so we have two throne rooms. My father's happens to be in the back of the castle so when I become king I inherit the whole back part of it and half the kingdom, though of course I can't just make decisions on my own without the other king's input just like he can't go around making rules for his half without mine." Sting explained while stepping out of the carriage while one of the guards held open the door for him, "Thanks Orga!"

"Well that seems confusing." Artemis sighed as she was helped from the carriage by the guard, Orga, "Thank you."

"It's easier to understand if I sit down and explain it to you better in detail but we can push that to a later date, right now I need to show you to your room."

She watched as Sting went around to the back of the carriage and undid the straps that held her case of clothes to the back. Orga went to go take it from him but Sting just waved him off and continued to carry it to the castle doors. The brunette sighed as she followed after him and saw the luggage bag shift positions on Sting's shoulder. She didn't understand why Wendy had insisted on giving her so many outfits to come here with when she was probably going to be offered more by the maids here in the castle anyway.

"It certainly feels good to be home!"

Artemis smiled at the simpering look on the blonde's face. Again she couldn't help but realize that there was something about him that she seemed to always catch on to and like about him so much. Up ahead down the hall there was someone standing there, his hands nicely placed behind his back as he stood there proudly smiling very faintly at Sting. Unlike all the other guards Artemis had seen so far that served in all of the castles and even this one he wasn't dressed in something that seemed suitable enough to be called armor and he also wore a mask over his face with a furry hat that covered the roots of his blonde locks.

"You seem glad to be home Prince Sting." The man said before locking his dark green eyes with Artemis's lighter green toned ones, "Seems like Prince Rogue isn't the only one with a guest anymore either."

"Oh yeah sorry for not warning you guys first I guess. This is Artemis Elise, Artemis meet Rogue's right hand man in a way, Rufus." Sting told her gesturing to the man who bowed slightly out of respect.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Miss. Elise."

"Just Artemis will do." The brunette sighed not wanting to go back into that topic like back in Pyre.

"I'm gonna go finish taking her to her room. If you wouldn't mind alerting my father that I've come home I'd appreciate it because I want to go see Rogue after I'm done escorting Artemis to talk with him about, well you know."

"As you wish Prince Sting."

With that Rufus made his way down the hall in long strides. Sting nudged her shoulder gently to get her attention so that she knew where he was going and she could follow him. She quickly obeyed and pulled her eyes away from the man they had just been talking to. The thought of Rogue came back as she remembered meeting him back at the ball in Magnolia. He seemed like a rather quiet person, not very sociable but she wasn't going to underestimate him any further than that knowing he'd probably make a great ruler once taking over his own father's spot as king. This thought also made her think to ask if the two were related in anyway even though they didn't look it and had different last names.

"Hey do you happen to actually be related to Rogue?" She asked tilting her head to the side slightly.

"Me? Nah, we just grew up together and were so close that we consider each other in that sense is all." The blonde replied bluntly.

She simply nodded her head to his answer as she was brought to a nice white door that sat between two black ones. She wasn't sure if the colors of the doors seemed to switch colors in that pattern all over the castle but for some reason she found it quite amusing, almost as if the white doors resembled Sting and the black one's Rogue. Beyond the white door was if course another fancied bedroom that Artemis was really starting to adapt to, the thought of going back to her small bed at home was going to be a pain. Sting dropped her luggage down onto the white covered bed started to rub his shoulder.

"You know you didn't have to carry that." Artemis softly told him and walked over to him, the heel of her hand pressing against his shoulder.

"Ah, what are you a professional masseuse? Man I could use someone like you more often." He chuckled while soaking up the pleasure of his shoulder being relaxed.

"Um no, I've worked at a clinic for the past three years." The brunette replied.

"Oh well it doesn't seem that way." The blonde shrugged before walking away from her and towards her room's door, "I'm going to meet up with Rogue and let him know I'm home, maybe talk about a few things. My bedroom is rather far from here since your room is basically in the middle of the castle so if you get lost trying to find it just ask one of the workers here. I want to see you down in the garden in about a half hour to see if we can work on your magic some more so you can settle in until then."

'_Well that explains the alternating door colors. The doors must be white on his side and then black on Rogue's.'_, the teen thought as she watched him leave. She kicked off her heels that were slightly beginning to make her feet ache before making her way a crossed to the room to crack the window and let some fresh air into the room. As she did she caught sight of two girls standing and giggling next to a fountain. It wasn't hard to catch on with what they were saying since it was so quiet but it also triggered the brunette's interest.

"Yep! This is the fountain that makes wishes come true!"

"Really prove it."

"I heard someone had wished for more money once here at this very fountain and got exactly that in a mere three days after making that wish."

"Oh really?"

"It's true! Go ahead and try it!"

'_A wishing fountain huh?'_, Artemis thought as she propped her elbows on the window ledge and rested her head in her hands, _'Maybe that's just the kind of thing I need right now.'_


	23. Chapter 23

"Ok I think you're good for now."

Artemis nodded and breathed a sigh of relief from Sting's words. Training non-stop for a good hour could really wipe out someone who was new to magic the way Artemis was. She used her knees as support since she had nothing else to lean on and ran one hand through her chestnut colored hair. After all that Sting didn't seem one bit out of energy and even though he was used to magic unlike her it still didn't seem normal to the female.

"Prince Sting! Your father requests your presence in the throne room!"

"I'll be right there Orga!" The blonde replied before averting his gaze to Artemis again, "This might take me some time to get through depending on what my father wants so rest up while I'm gone."

He took a quick second to ruffle her hair before leaving; the contact he made with her caused her to flush slightly. After his figure disappeared she began making her way around the garden thinking a leisurely stroll would be nice. It wasn't long before she came a crossed the fountain she saw those girls huddling around earlier. She picked up the purple fabric of her dress and sat down on the fountain's edge while tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. She gently dragged the tips of her fingers over the water's surface thinking about what she'd wish for just to have a little fun with the myth she over heard about the fountain. She tried thinking real hard about what it was she really wanted but with the same thing running through her head she couldn't help but to wish for just that.

"I want to meet Celestine."

It came out in one quick short breath as she smiled gently at her reflection in the water. Her eyes darted up from that reflection when she heard someone not too far off bump into one of the bushes. She saw that person's faint shadow, the quick glimpse of their face made her realize that the person was female, a female who looked an awful lot like those within her family. Quietly she stood from the fountain and followed after them only catching glimpses of the other girl's green dress or her brown hair.

"Rogue! Rogue!"

It seemed as if the girl was someone who knew Sting's "brother" well but she was in such a rush that Artemis had lost her around one of the flower bushes. The brunette sighed shrugging it off. She was probably just seeing things from her exhaustion that she needed to recover from her training, what were the odds of meeting someone who looked like family at a time like this anyway. She turned on her heel and decided to go back to the fountain to rest some more. She sat back down upon the fountain's ledge and looked up, her green orbs spotting the blonde dragon slayer in one of the windows with his father next to him. She pulled her eyebrows together and frowned slightly seeing the frustrated look on Sting's face as he ran a hand through his hair. It looked like his father was trying his best to relax his son but nothing that seemed to be said calmed the younger one down, it honestly just made him more infuriated. Sting's hands flew up in the air before she noticed him pointing a finger out the window, pointing a finger in her direction. Artemis rubbed her eyes quickly thinking that she was just seeing things once again but when she looked back up at the two her eyes locked with the sapphire ones Sting bared. She shifted her head to the side and hoped he didn't see her looking in fear of her being rude. Once again her childish curiosity bubbled up inside of her and she so craved to know what they were talking about if Sting was pointing at her, more importantly if they were talking to her at all. She heaved a small breath and stood from her seat on the fountain before turning and looking back at her reflection.

_"Yeah I do and I know that you're the one that Natsu and Sting have fallen for."_

Just like that all her stress came back and overwhelmed her just by remembering Wendy's words, that weird feeling she had towards Sting just washed away remembering that he wasn't the only one who had fallen for her. It was just so hard for her, to go from a poor girl who didn't have many guys to talk to in her life to a girl who is currently stuck in a sticky love triangle with two men from two different royal families. She felt guilty rejecting Natsu and remembering it now made it even worse. With Sting it was completely different, she felt something she didn't understand towards him but she knew nothing about him the way she knew Natsu. Just wanted to know why it was that she felt like something made Sting better than Natsu and it was making her head spin trying to pick it out.

"Just let it go Artemis, let it go." She muttered to herself.

"Let what go?"

Artemis spun around removing her hands from her head that she was clutching while trying to piece everything together. Behind her stood a woman obviously of the noble class with way she was dressed, either that or she was a part of the royal family too. Her hair was black and ran down to the lower part of her back, her olive toned eyes scanning over Artemis as if she were some kind of a threat to her.

"W-Who are you?" Artemis inquired.

"Minerva Orlando, a noble woman." The female replied and walked closer to the brunette, the not so friendly smile she had on turning upside down, "You're the little guest Sting brought home with him huh?"

"Y-Yes, I'm Artemis Elise. It's nice to meet you."

That was total lie. Artemis felt threatened just by looking at the woman. Her green eyes showed no friendliness what-so-ever and the frown she had upon her face seemed like she was trying to tell the brunette that she shouldn't be here even if sting was the one who dragged her out here to his kingdom. Minerva leaned down slightly being that she was a few inches taller than Artemis was and narrowed her eyes dangerously. Artemis backed away while sucking in a deep breath and tripping, landing on the edge of the fountain. A look of déjà-vu flashed a crossed Minerva's face before she stood up straight once more and put on her not-so-friendly smile again.

"Well it seems Prince Rogue isn't the only one who is fond of bringing maids from other kingdoms to the castle." She shrugged.

"Maid? I'm sorry but I'm not a maid Miner-"

"_Lady_ Minerva that is, and so be it if you're not a maid. You're still a lower class woman either way and I don't seem to understand why Sting fraternizes with you anyway." Her hand was waved off to the side as she turned to walk away.

Her statement made Artemis's blood boil. Who was Minerva to say that Sting was wrong in conversing with her anyway and she also didn't like that Minerva was downgrading her just because she was of a lower class level than she was. It made Artemis so furious that she didn't even know what she was doing until she found herself standing and her mouth already open, "You can't just talk to me like that because you're of a higher class than I am!"

The darker haired female stopped walking and glared at the brunette over her shoulder. The look was so intense that Artemis froze with her eyes wide and a hand covering her mouth. Minerva spun around quicker than Artemis had ever seen anyone turn around before and found the noble woman staring down at her with her face mere inches from her own.

"What was that?" Minerva hissed lowly.

"I-I-U-Um-Sorry. . ."

"Minerva!"

The said female turned her head to the sound of the voice and Artemis had done the same to feel relief wash through her when she spotted Sting coming near them. He didn't look to happy, in truth he looked even more frustrated and angry than he had when she saw him up in the window with his father. Minerva backed away from Artemis and she noticed how a more pleasing look washed over the woman's face as she looked at Sting compared to when she was looking at the shorter female next to her.

"Sti-"

"Aren't you supposed to be in the ball room with the rest of the noble women?" The blonde questioned, a slight feeling of irritation dripping from his lips.

"Yes but-"

"Then get there and stay there like you're supposed to."

Minerva frowned deeply and stormed away not liking the tone Sting had used with her. Artemis flopped down onto the fountain's ledge once more feeling even more exhausted then she had when she finished her training. Sting sighed and walked closer to her while smoothing his gold locks down on the back of his head, a look of something that said "sorry" ran a crossed his face.

"Ignore her ok, she can be a rather, well, selfish and bratty. Anyway I have something else to attend to at the moment so you can have free roam of my side of the castle. I don't want you interrupting something that Rogue may be in if you were to wander into his area." Sting told her and pulled her up from her seat.

"W-Wait but what are you doing?" Artemis stuttered as she tried to keep her footing while being dragged along by Sting.

"It's nothing you need to be around for so like I said just wander my side of the castle for now, oh and Artemis," He said, the sound of her name capturing his attention even more, "_Don't_ go near the ball room for awhile."


	24. Chapter 24

The brunette blew her bangs from her face as she wandered down a random hall, white walls and white doors surrounding her and making her eyes bug from how bright it all was. Sting had left her in front of her room only minutes ago and she had already managed to find her way through most of Sting's side of the castle. None of the rooms really looked all that pleasing and she couldn't seem to find the library. She hated her tendency to get lost in places even after she was told numerous times where to go to get to where she needed. Maybe that was a benefit to being poor, she didn't need to live in an awful large home and worry about getting lost all the time.

"Aren't there any good rooms to look through?" She grumbled to herself.

"_Don't go near the ball room for awhile."_

She shook her head and sighed irritably. Telling her to not go near the ball room was a huge mistake; it only made the girl want to go there more. He was only lucky that she was lost and had no clue where that room was. Artemis rounded a corner to another hall, one she had most likely already been down, and accidentally ended up bumping into someone. Artemis used the corner of the wall to catch herself from falling and shook her head. Her green orbs opened slowly to see a female standing before her, one that looked of an upper-middle class to lower-upper class status. Her white hair fell to her neck and simple blue rose rested in her short hair that helped her chocolate colored eyes to stand out just slightly.

"Oh I'm sorry!" She quickly apologized and helped Artemis find her footing.

"That's alright I should've been a little more cautious. You never know what turns up around the next corner in huge places like these." Artemis sighed.

"Right.", the female chuckled softly and let go of the brunette's hand, "I'm Yukino Aguria."

"Artemis Elise."

Yukino smiled at Artemis before expressing a face that seemed as if she was just realizing something. The brunette looked at her puzzled trying to figure out just what the female was doing. She was becoming creped out by the look and quickly moved herself catching the teen off guard by her movement.

"Are you ok?" Artemis questioned.

"Oh yes I'm just fine! It's just I remembered your name from when Sting and Rogue came back from that ball in Magnolia plus you reminded me of someone else I met was all. Sorry I made you feel awkward there." The snowy haired girl chuckled.

"G-Gezz why does everyone seem to know who I am?" Artemis sighed softly wishing there was at least one person out there who didn't know of her existence at this moment in time.

"I really can't answer that but I wouldn't have know who you were if I didn't even know Sting and Rogue. I've been good friends of theirs for some time now that the school has been up and running." Yukino stated with a small shrug of her shoulders.

"School? What's . . . that?"

"Oh well it's not surprising you don't know cause they really aren't common yet. Sabertooth is the main one known for having the first one and I believe Pyre had one though if you've heard o their current state they really don't have theirs anymore. Basically it's a place where kids learn what a mother would teach her child if that kingdom didn't have a school. I happen to be a teacher there." Yukino explained.

"Ah, well it sounds like a friendly thing." The brunette commented.

"It is yes actually, speaking of which I came to talk to either Sting or Rogue about it."

Hearing that struck a fancy idea within Artemis. If Yukino knew where the ball room was she would be able to go down with her to see what was so important that Sting didn't want her near there."Well Sting said he'd be in the ball room if you want to talk to him about it."

"Oh really thank you!"

"Um you wouldn't mind if I came with you right?" The brunette asked cautious enough to not sound like she was trying to pry into whatever it was Sting was doing down there.

"Sure come with me!"

Artemis took off after the white locked girl. She didn't want to seem too impatient and tried digging her heels into the floor occasionally so she wouldn't speed ahead of the supposed teacher. It shocked the brunette that she had been so close to her desired destination all that time that all it took was going down four different halls before coming a crossed a small door that didn't really suit something for the entrance of a ballroom.

"Uh is this-"

"Yes it's an emergency type door just in case something was to happen inside the ballroom. I'm just a little bit in a rush right now so I don't feel like walking all the way around to the main entrance of the ballroom." Yukino explained.

Artemis nodded her head in understanding as the female opened the door quietly. She looked slightly embarrassed for doing so which puzzled Artemis. She heard something about feeling bad for interrupting this of all things being muttered from Yukino's mouth. Artemis walked closer and peered through the small opening that Yukino left with how far she had shoved the door open. On the other side she was immediately able to spot Sting sitting upon a chair, a bored expression written a crossed his face. Her lips parted slightly as she pulled her eyebrows together seeing Minerva hovering over him, her one arm placed on the back of the chair and whole line of females after her seemed to be waiting just to do the same thing. The brunette didn't understand two things that came from this, why Sting wouldn't want her to know about this and why she had a miserable feeling churning in the pit of her stomach from seeing another girl with him.

"Artemis-Sama? Are you ok?" Yukino asked.

The female's question didn't only snap Artemis from her thoughts but she was loud enough to catch the attention of both Sting and Minerva who weren't too far away. Sting flew up from his chair and Artemis could hear him breathe her name, Minerva putting on a sour face as he did so. The teen bit her lip and turned away not even thinking that a sorry would do it any good. She quickly turned the corner to go back the way she came with Yukino ignoring the confusing gaze she could feel said girl giving her. Maybe now it made a little more sense on why the blonde had told her not to go to the ballroom, he didn't want her hurting though it was a mystery to her how he knew she would be hurt when she didn't even understand why she was herself, ok well that was slightly a lie.

"Artemis!"

She ignored it.

"Artemis stop!"

The girl only halted when she felt her wrist being tugged back which forced her to stop. She looked up from her feet and back at Sting who was panting which indicated to her that he had been running after her instead of just simply walking quickly. She gently squirmed her wrist from his grip or at least attempted to for with every move she made he'd only hold onto her tighter.

"I told you I didn't want you near the ballroom so why would you disobey me?" He questioned, not one sliver of harshness running through his words.

"You know if you tell someone not to do something they're only going to want to do it more. It's simple knowledge you know." She muttered back.

The dragon slayer sighed and pulled her into a hug which caused her to squeak lightly while he chuckled into her hair."I just didn't want to see you hurt."

"but-"

"My father told me to do it. He said I couldn't really have the girl I wanted, that her class was an issue but father just doesn't understand. He doesn't understand that I only want her. . . I only want you."

The brunette stiffened in his arms. His confession was just as unexpected as the one Natsu had given her and again she had no way of answering this one either. She didn't feel the need to reject him though, not him, not like Natsu. The same idea of him having something else that Natsu didn't came back to her making her actually want to tell him that . . . she felt the same. But images of her other confessor only kept her from saying it which irritated her because she felt like she was a rope being split in two during a game of tug-o-war.

"Artemis. . . You. . ."

"I don't think that I can do this Sting. . . I . . . you're not the only one who has already confessed to me and I don't want to risk hurting Natsu before I-"

"Why does he always have to ruin things for me!?"

Sting's sudden outburst startled the poor female as she watched him pull away quickly and slam his hand upon the wall violently. Her breath came out shaky as she watched the ominous look float about in his sparkling blue eyes. She lifted her one hand slowly wanting to grab his hand and calm him down. She wasn't making sense of what he was saying. Natsu always ruining things for him? What was that supposed to mean?

"Sting-"

"Why does he always have to take things that I want as well!? Why is it that I can't just have something for myself to show him I can be just as good!?" Sting snapped slamming his other hand onto the wall.

His words made all the fear and guilt wash out of Artemis completely and slowly became replaced with pure rage. He wanted her to prove he was better than someone else!? She wasn't about to just let herself become some kind of trophy and the little idea of Sting ever being better just popped like a bubble in her mind."Oh so that's it huh!? I'm just something that you want as a trophy so you can go brag to Natsu that you finally got something that he doesn't!?"

"I never said that!"

"Sure sounded like that's what you meant!"

"Stop putting words into my mouth!"

"Stop thinking I'm your trophy!"

"I told you I never said that! I'd never think of you that way! God! You're ranting on about false things even after I tried keeping you from getting hurt in multiple ways!" Sting hollered pulling on his golden locks of hair.

"Oh yeah! Well how's that working out for you!?" She screamed back.

Not wanting to lose her temper more than she already had the brunette spun on her heels and stormed away leaving a fuming dragon slayer behind her.


	25. Chapter 25

Artemis stayed seated in the plush chair that was placed in the library she had managed to find while roaming through the castle slightly frustrated. Her head was still spinning from the very thought of having argued with the blonde prince, a sighed drifting from her mouth as she blamed herself for having made it surface again. She tried focusing back out the window but it really wasn't much help anymore since that's all she had been looking at for ten straight minutes was the same flower bush sitting right on the other side of the glass panel.

Standing from her seat she thought it'd be best to go grab a book and try reading instead. She couldn't take thinking about the events that occurred yesterday near that ballroom due to the fact that it only caused her pain inside. She picked up one of the books from the bookshelf and dusted it off, the conclusion that most of these book hadn't been touched in a while formed inside her head. She ran her fingers gingerly over the purple leathered book and opened it while making her way back to the comfortable chair she had seemed fond of. The pages on the inside of the book were yellowing showing age and the small font words were in an elegant script like it was written by hand and then shoved into the leather case. The brunette sighed at her choice of book since her mother had never really taught her how to read script, only print but she shrugged and told herself that now was a good time to teach herself then never. While her eyes tried making out the words from the script letters she did know the sound of the library door opening echoed through the spacious room. Artemis lifted her head to see who had walked in, a man with mop of black hair and one devil red eye showing. The name Rogue flashed in her mind.

She stood from her seat quickly as the male spotted her and she placed her book down on the small table set in front of her chair. Rogue looked at her oddly like he was trying to figure something out maybe who she was, his footsteps slow at first. Artemis thought he had mumbled what sounded like the name of someone but couldn't quite catch it before he turned his feet to a normal pace for walking.

"You-"

"Artemis, the one you met at that ball the one night." The brunette told him before he could even say another word.

"Right . . . sorry." The raven haired boy mumbled before passing her to head towards the bookshelf behind her.

She found his eyes dart down to the book she had placed down. He picked it up carefully and placed it back on the shelf. Artemis was confused and a little irritated since she had been reading it and still wanted to. She parted her lips to tell him so but stopped once she noticed the hurt expression on his face. She wondered why the other prince of the kingdom would look so down though of course this was a first in seeing him since the night at the ball so really anything could've happened. The female just let him be and went over to the bookshelf once more looking for a new book. She caught Rogue quickly glance at her when she grabbed one of the books and looked back. She remembered how Igneel told her he didn't want guests on the third floor of his library and thought something similar might occur here.

"Oh I'm sorry should I not touch these?" She asked worriedly.

The prince continued looking at her before shaking his head. The brunette let out a sigh of relief before continuing to pull the book from its slot on the shelf. She turned back to her chair and sat down once again opening the book, this one not appearing as old as the last but slowly getting there. She glanced up at Rogue every now and then to find him standing in the same spot every time. After peering up at him for about a tenth time she quietly closed her book and placed it on her lap.

"Hey . . . are you alright?" She asked catching the prince's attention, his head turning slightly.

". . . Fine. . ." He replied in the same monotonous way he had introduced himself to her all those nights ago.

She nodded slowly and jerked her head to the side hearing the door open again. A taller male stepped in, his blue eyes meeting with Artemis and then flicking over to Rogue. The raven haired male understood and quickly left without a word but the other man stayed and looked right at the brunette once more startling her some. He closed the door behind him and slowly walked towards her. She knew she had seen him before back when she was locked up in PhantomLord, the white hair and blue eyes, Sting's father Weisslogia.

"I'm guessing your Artemis Elise right?" He asked, his arms becoming neatly folded over his chest.

"Yes. . ." She whispered softly and transferred the book in her lap to the table where she had set the other one down.

"This may seem a little queer to you but I wanted to ask if you wouldn't mind keeping your distance from Sting until we can get you back to your home. It's sudden I realize but if you wouldn't mind I'd appreciate it." The king calmly said, though the way he said it as if she could make a choice clearly wasn't optional.

". . . Not like I was going to soon anyway." She mumbled, more pain coursing through her while the damned argument played once more.

Weisslogia was puzzled by her word for a moment not really understanding what she meant but didn't bother to ask since it didn't seem all that important to him, "Well if you're that willing to comply to my favor then I thank y-"

The man was cut short by the library door opening once again for the fourth time that day if you'd include Artemis entering herself. There stood that guard that the brunette believed was called Orga by the blonde prince of the castle. He didn't seem like he had come on any pleasant terms seeming's how his expression was a rather grim one. He slowly made his way to Weisslogia's side and cupped his hand near his mouth, his words only able to reach the king's ears causing said man to frown as well.

"I understand thank you Orga." And at once the guard was dismissed.

Silence filled the room, a pair of sapphire eyes looked at Artemis sympathetically.

"Miss. Elise I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news but we just got word that . . . Magnolia was ruined by PhantomLord yesterday and there were many people murdered, one being a man bearing the last name of Elise."

First silence and then the sliding of the chair Artemis was in rang throughout the room followed by the door opening and slamming shut. It didn't take her long before she found her room, curled up in her bed, and cried herself to sleep for the loss of her father.


	26. Chapter 26

One or two days, she had lost track but she knew it was a good chunk of time that she had locked herself away in her room. Artemis hadn't eaten anything or remotely moved herself off her bed unless she was in need for using the bathroom. She hadn't gotten much sleep either so she was pretty positive she looked horrible, dark circles had formed under her eyes she guessed but she didn't move herself to check the mirror in the bathroom. She made a side note to do it next time she needed the bathroom and forced herself from the comfortable spot on the bed.

It felt as if the world had come crashing down on her, like there was nothing else to live for. She had no family left, correction; she had no _close_ family left. Her thoughts drifted back to her cousin and that letter that urged her into everything. One silly little wish to meet her was all she wanted to see through before her life was over but even trying to do such a thing put her in cycle of getting people hurt. No she wasn't blaming Celestine; she couldn't blame anyone but herself for her actions. She was the one who chose to go to PhantomLord in the first place even after Levy told her how dangerous it could be but she refused to listen, to listen to the bookworm who had always went there and knew it a lot better than she had. What did she know? Well to put it simply, not much. Of course no one could possibly know everything in the world but she felt like she knew so little, like she was so . . . naive.

The sound of a knock on her door made her train of thought snap. She shifted slightly to her other side so that she was facing the door and muttered for the person to come in knowing it was one of the maids. She had no clue how they heard her when she said it but they did seeming's how the door opened upon her speaking. One of the maids slipped through the door but before it closed Artemis could've sworn she saw someone else out there sitting near her door. Her mouth curved down realizing who it was and now knew why the maid knew she had muttered something.

"Good morning Miss. Elise. I've come to check up on you, would you like anything to eat or do you need anything?" The girl asked kindly, the expression on her face showing that she already knew the answer to that question.

"No thank you I'm fine."

The maid sighed hearing that answer again. Artemis wasn't in the mood to do anything and she just wanted to be left alone but she wasn't about to be rude and kick everyone out of her room that came in, she wasn't that kind of girl. She rolled over again to face away from the maid who walked closer. Artemis didn't want her seeing what she looked like for if the maid did happen to see her she knew then that she'd be forced to shove food down her throat. Honestly she'd rather starve then feel horrible feeding herself even if everyone else thought that the other way around was better. She heard the maid inhale quickly and she knew why.

"Miss. Elise have you been sleeping at all!?" She asked worriedly.

"No." Was the blunt reply.

"That's not ok! You have to sleep Miss. Elise!" she protested.

"I'm not tired."

"But you dark rings under your eyes!"

"So?"

The maid stood there appalled by the brunette's behavior. She wished she could force the teen to do something, go for a walk and get out of the room so that her blood would keep flowing properly but alas she knew that this girl was stubborn. She backed away from the bed and sighed eyeing up the mop of brown hair against the pillow.

"Would you at least want me to prep a bath for you?"

". . . that would be nice actually."

The maid smiled at least happy that she was willing to do that much. She strutted off to the bathroom door and opened it. The water was turned on but Artemis didn't move upon hearing it. She still continued to stayed beneath the covers and listened to the maid roam about her room first going to the closet for a new outfit that really wasn't needed since the brunette wasn't going anywhere, and then to open the window for some odd reason. She probably thought Artemis needed air which for some reason made her mad, only slightly.

"Alright you're bath is ready."

The blankets were shoved off slightly and Artemis clumsily stood to her feet. The way she walked frightened the maid dearly for it seemed like she was going to collapse within any step she took. Artemis sighed once she was behind the door and yanked the dress off that she had been wearing. She slipped into the tub and felt her muscles relax under the warmth of the water. For the first time in a few days a smile spread to her lips as she enjoyed this. After washing up her hair and everything necessary she began removing any unwanted growing hair, she winced when she felt herself get cut doing so. She stepped out and dried up feeling better than she did before. Her eyes roamed down to her calf when she felt the small blade cut her but alas there was nothing there, no skin damaged. The brunette was confused at first but shrugged it off assuming she had imagined things. _'Maybe it rapidly healed'_, she thought even if that wasn't possible.

The maid was still waiting in her room when she was finished. She was probably making sure that the brunette got out of her shower ok. She dropped the towel on the chair and the maid picked it up nodding her head, a smile brought to her face. She quickly commented on Artemis looking better already before scurrying over to the door.

"Oh you can do one more thing for me though." Artemis quickly told her while taking a spot on the bed once more.

"Certainly, what is it?" The maid asked.

"Tell Sting to stop lounging in front of my door."


	27. Chapter 27

It was good to get out of her room. She was actually glad she finally forced herself from that bed after the maid left that morning and what made it even greater is that she wasn't greeted by a certain blonde when she opened her door. The garden had been good enough for a walk so she decided to do that and go over some things she had been wanting to get off her mind such as her father. It still hurt at the realization that he was gone, her last close connection to her family, her last living parent but she tried thinking more on the positives of it such as him being able to be with her mother once more in a better place where he didn't have to suffer through the war that she knew was slowly trailing all of them.

She found her way back down the hall her room had resided down. She found her door cracked thought and wondered how that was when she was sure she checked and made sure it was shut before she had left to go for her walk. Her hand pressed up against the white object and pushed it open slowly. Her eyes widened slightly seeing who sitting there on her bed waiting. He had his elbows pressed against his knees and the back of his hands against his forehead, well they were against his forehead until he looked up quickly hearing the door creak open. She saw his eyes brighten as he stood up almost as if he had been worried over something and seeing her made it all wash over.

"Sting?" She whispered.

"There you are! I came to uh, check and see if you were still in here but when I found you gone I thought that-"

He stopped mid-sentence watching as she was backing away from him with ever step he took, his mind hadn't even processed that he had moved away from the bed at all. He stopped and pressed his lips into a fine line knowing that saying anymore wouldn't do anything. The brunette slowly walked into her room shutting the door behind her before walking past him and towards her bed. There lay a tray of food, a breakfast meal. She sighed and picked it up before placing it on her nightstand not paying a second thought to it.

"Please eat something."

It was low, a whisper but she still caught it. She turned back around to find him facing her, his head hanging while he stared down at his feet. She didn't respond but only sat down on her bed kicking off her flats and pulling her feet onto the bed. She felt uncomfortable with him standing there for she didn't know what she was supposed to say in case it did nothing but initiate another fight that she didn't want. He shuffled a crossed the floor and found a spot in the chair on the other side of the nightstand than the bed, his position resuming back to the one he was in when she walked in, hands on forehead and elbows on knees.

"Artemis. . ."

She looked at him from the corner of her eye.

"I. . . I really only came to tell you about the ball we're holding tonight. . . I wanted you to come cause I just thought that maybe it would help you feel better."

She licked her lips and looked back down to her knees after making out his incoherent mumbles. She knew what he meant by her feeling better. She wasn't surprised that he knew about her father's death, it's not like he couldn't know because he was obviously going to be told about the destruction of magnolia which would ultimately lead to him asking question since he knew that was her home kingdom. She considered his offer to go for a moment.

"When is it?"

His head shot up. She could've sworn he had almost smile but held it in.

"It's tonight. I had a dress made for you so even if you happened to say no it could still be something you could walk around the castle in normally." He answered and pointed to the closet a crossed the way.

She slowly slid her legs off of the bed and stood up. Her hands gripped the handles on both doors of the closet and flung them open. She knew what dresses had been in there so it wasn't hard to pick out which one had been made for her just for the ball. She pulled it out and observed it, the thing she found most appealing and coincidental about the dress was that it had her favorite color, blue; splashed throughout it when she was pretty sure she never mentioned her favorite color to him. It was strapless and the edges around the top part of the dress ran in a straight line, not like in that heart shaped form some ball gowns had. The bottom wasn't overly puffy like a ball gown much either but she liked that. She always thought dress like that made her seem to big anyway. White made up most of the dress's color but the parts that were made up of the royal blue color was the folded layer on the top near her bosom and then the light sprinkling of blue jewels around her waist that lead to a small blue pendant that would go near her left hip allowing the white fabric to split apart and reveal the royal blue layer underneath in that small area of the dress. She adored it and thought it to be even more beautiful at the dress she wore to the last ball she was at even if that dress had more of a personal attachment to it.

"Do you like it?"

She nodded to Sting's question and it was almost as if she _felt_ him smile behind her. She hung the dress back up and realized that a new pair of white heels had rested with the rest of her shoes at the bottom of the closet. They were most likely to go with the dress. She closed the doors and spun around to look at the dragon slayer once more. He was standing now with his hand behind his head smoothing down his spiked up hair, or at least trying to since it always popped back up again anyway.

"Well. . . I guess I'll go now. The party and the dress were really only why I came." He said and turned making his way to the door.

"Is there any reason you guys are holding the ball?"

Sting stopped hearing her question. His hand clutched the doorknob tightly and Artemis noticed this looking at him confused. His eyes slowly met with hers and she saw the sadness run through his eyes. His hand that was on the door dropped back down to his side and he sighed shaking his head to answer her. It seemed as if he didn't want to tell her and it made her mad, the thought of him still being angry at her running through her mind as he acted this way. He pressed his back against the door and looked up at the ceiling.

". . . . I got engaged."

Sharp and piercing, it felt like a knife was currently doing that to Artemis's heart. Engaged? When to who? She wanted to blurt out all these questions, run over to him and shake him to death yelling at him why he did but she bit her lip and watched him sadly express himself about it. The brunette didn't even have anything to say to him after that. He only shifted his eyes to look back at her and frowned.

"It's Minerva."

'_Even better'_, she huffed mentally and folded her arms.

"I've only told Rogue, my father, and you."

"Right well. . . Congratulations." She said softly and made her way back to her bed.

She thought she saw something that related to pain flash a crossed his face when she said that but it went away too fast for her to tell. She flopped down onto her bed and watched him open the door again. Sting stood half way out the door as he looked at her over his shoulder like he was thinking of something to say.

"Artemis. . . about the other day-"

"No. . . I don't want to start with that now. I don't think either one of us wants to be sour during your big party tonight." She smiled softly even if it hurt to do so.

"Right. . . sorry."

She nodded her head and watched him walk out. Her smiled immediately dropped and she threw herself back on the bed, her hands covering her face. Her heart ached knowing what the ball was for and she couldn't stop it from hurting. What made it worse was that she had just realized that she went near Sting against Weisslogia's orders. If he knew then tonight was going to be worse. All of these things almost made her not want to go but she quickly distracted her mind and came up with an excuse.

"It'd be stupid to waste such a beautiful dress if I don't use it for what it was made for anyway."


	28. Chapter 28

The ballroom was beautiful lit, chandeliers hung on the ceiling having the light gleam off of their diamonds and tall cakes and other pastries were aligned along the tables and there were many colors that drifted throughout the room thanks to all of the various colors of fabrics each dress was made up of. Artemis's dress was quite different from the others, not as puffy as the other dress which she knew would happen since her ball gown wasn't quite like the traditional one. Her heels clicked against the tan marbled floor as she watched the ballroom dancers switch off partners every now and then. Her eyes caught onto one of the dancers and realized that it seemed to be the same girl who she was chasing in the garden a few days ago but since she was moving around to quickly for the brunette to see her there was no way to see what she fully looked like.

She moved herself a crossed the floor careful not to disturb any of the dancers while the music played in the background. She found herself next to one of the banquet tables and stood there isolated. She wasn't used to social event and to be perfectly honest the ball back at Magnolia was the first one she had ever been to making this one her second one. She remembered the way that one was; she could tell the differences now in the scenery and in the atmosphere. It seemed so much more joyous here and the ballroom back home in the magnolia castle wasn't as huge as this one plus it wasn't as round. She wasn't trying to criticize her kingdom's small palace but the one here in Sabertooth, heck all of them that she's been too lately were a lot more elaborate than the one back home.

She smiled softly watching everything play out. A few people passed her, their eyes looking her over like they didn't know her even if that's actually why they were looking at her. She assumed most of the upper class citizens here must've known each other well at least if she was earning looks like that but she simply ignored it. She was entertained and satisfied watching everyone dance until her eyes caught sight of something that twisted her heart into a frenzy of pain.

Minerva and Sting dancing together.

She felt her nails dig into the cloth that was set over the long tables when she spotted them. He didn't look as joyous as the other guests but she seemed even more thrilled than the others dancing around them. They were like opposites in a way, at least from this angle it seemed that way to Artemis. She turned around to look down at the food on the tables not wanting to look at the engaged couple. She got herself a beverage from whatever they had set out and quickly drank it all down. A sigh escaped her lips once the glass was placed back down onto the table, her free hand running through her hair carefully so she wouldn't mess up what the maids took extra careful to curl and put her diamond hair clip into.

"Again with the banquet tables? You seem to be fond of these at balls."

The brunette froze. She knew that voice anywhere. She quickly spun herself around and her guess was confirmed. Her olive toned eyes widened in delight as she smiled wider than she had in a while upon seeing the pink fluff and onyx eyes, his outfit as dashing as ever with a red jacket that had intricate gold trimming and it suited his element well. A pair of jet black pants to match his jet black footwear was what finished off his outfit. His well known face-splitting smile lit his face showing he was just as happy to her as she was.

"Natsu! You're ok!" She shouted and threw her arms around him hugging him tightly before letting go.

"Of course I am! What'd you do doubt me? I feel insulted." He pouted playfully and crossed his arms.

"N-No I never doubted you Natsu!" She stuttered trying not to laugh too much from his pouting.

Seeing him again really put her into high spirits. There was always something about him that would just make you smile; it always kept you from feeling down. The pinkette smiled once more hearing her answer; a small blush coated his cheeks making him look like a small child even if he was about eighteen, almost the way Artemis would imagine having a little brother.

_Brother._

Her smile dropped slightly as the thought repeated through her mind. Realization hit her as she was jerked back into the big whirlpool of feelings that came along with this love triangle, well it wasn't so much a triangle anymore and to her it seemed as if it was finally calming down now that she was noticing the solution to it, the most trivial and idiotic thing that made this whole thing settle down inside of her. She watched him cock his head to the side giving her a look as if to ask what was wrong. She simply took his hand and pulled him away to the edges of the ballroom, in a slightly private area. She could've sworn that she felt someone burning holes into the back of her head and her heart ached when she thought about who could be looking at her in such a way in that exact moment.

'_Sting'._

Natsu turned his head in both directions trying to figure out what was going on. The brunette stood there for a moment in silence with him trying to figure out how she could put this together for him easily and without hurting him too much. She knew saying that she wouldn't have to hurt him at all by saying this would be a complete lie.

"Artemis what's the matter? Why'd you drag me over here?" The pyre prince asked placing his hands onto his hips.

Taking a deep breath helped to calm her before she started on the awkward topic. "Natsu . . . about what had happened the day Pyre was attacked . . . in the bedroom. . ."

It was awkward as she tried finding out a way to put it. The pinkette caught on rather quickly though and frowned knowing what she meant. The rejection she gave him. His hands went from his hips to being folded with his arms along his chest. He obviously wasn't ready to talk about it now but he didn't say anything to her about stopping the conversation.

"I'm sorry if I hurt you back then . . . it just didn't feel right to me and . . . I think I'm ready to explain it to you if you're ready to hear the explanation you deserve."

Natsu nodded slowly."It was because you liked Sting right?"

She felt her face heat up. It wasn't that he was wrong, to be honest now that's she had figured everything out he was right. The one she fell for was Sting, that feeling she had gotten when they were back at Cait Shelter, it was all because she really like Sting, not Natsu. There was more to the whole thing than just that though. She did have feelings for Natsu and as lame as an excuse as this may sound it was brotherly feelings that she had to the pinkette.

"Partially." She muttered, "But it was also because I couldn't see you in that way or at least now I know I can't see you in that way. I had feelings for you Natsu but . . . they were more of the feelings you would have towards a sibling."

"Sibling? So you saw me as a brother?"

"I do now at least. I know it isn't much of a reason but it's the truth and I guess because you act like how I'd picture a brother to be or at least have those kid like features it's the only thing I could see. I also didn't have much of a family growing up, being a single child and then losing my mother at a young age only left me with my father who is no gone as well. I don't have any family anymore that I know of being close to me so I guess because I'm so lonely now and I've always pictured having someone close to me and being able to call them my sibling you just seem to fit into that puzzle." She explained her voice soft and low as she was embarrassed to give such a lame explanation.

She watched the pinkette smooth his hair down the way sting had earlier today which only made her want to go and find the blonde even if he had Minerva clinging to his arm. It was killing her that he wasn't saying anything and only let out a long breath of air, his eyes widening for mere seconds before going back to normal like he was still trying to digest the information. When he let his hand dropped it hit his leg making a sound reach the brunette's ear. He then did something she thought he wouldn't do.

_He smiled._

"Well it wasn't what I was expecting no and I am hurt by it but if I can still make you happy by being your brother then I will because I still care about you. I'm sorry to hear about your father Artemis and I'll do anything to help fill a space in the empty part of you right now even if it's not the desired spot I was hoping for. You're smile is really all I need."

The brunette looked at him in disbelief while she felt herself flush slightly. That was definitely not the reaction she was expecting from him, not at all."W-Wow, you took that better than I thought you would."

"Yeah well it's better than taking it in a worse way and ruining both of our nights." He mumbled back.

She nodded her head in agreement. An awkward silence fell over both of them as she shifted in her dress and turned to face the dancing guests again.

"Artemis there's just one more thing I want to say to you before we end this completely." Natsu said standing straight and that's when she knew he was being serious even if he was smiling.

"What is it?" She whispered.

"Make sure that idiot Sting leaves with the right girl before tonight is over."


	29. Chapter 29

"I'm so glad you're ok! You. . . When we couldn't find you and then the bartender said . . .I'm so happy!"

Artemis chuckled sheepishly as she patted the nest of blue locks upon a short girl's head. Seemed like Levy and Gajeel had made it to the party as well and she had also caught sight of Laxus, Cobra, and Wendy a little bit of time ago as well. It seemed like all of the dragon slayers were here to celebrate Sting's engagement, well if they even knew that that was the reason this was being held.

"It's ok Levy, I'm fine now. It wasn't your fault." The brunette told her trying to sooth the bluenette hugging onto her for dear life.

Gajeel was only watching the brunette get squished by the bookworm. He said something along the lines of being glad that Artemis was ok but he didn't over express himself about that, he had been more on the fact of Jose and that he really wished to something about him at the present moment. The green eyed female finally freed herself from the shorter one and smiled gently. She really was more focused on finding the blonde Sabertooth prince but it seemed that now that she wanted to see him is when he decided not to show himself.

"I really am so glad Natsu and Sting were there. I wouldn't have known what to do with myself if I found out that Jose. . ."

Artemis rubbed her friend's shoulder as she trailed off. She knew what the bluenette wanted to say anyways and so did Gajeel from the sour look on his face. The brunette was sure things would turn out better for that kingdom once he took over the throne and somewhere deep down she also wished for the PhantomLord prince to find his missing father that no one seemed to know the whereabouts of.

Levy and Artemis stayed silent as the sound of the music changed and everyone seemed to switch partners out on the dance floor. Gajeel was the first to speak, his hand grabbing Levy's as he escorted her out to the floor to dance. Artemis smiled and thought she could see Levy ruling next to him one day but that thought quickly switched over to herself standing next to different royal. She shook her head to forget about it. There were hurdles she still needed to pass over before she could start imaging such a thing yet. A finger gently poked her shoulder twice. She turned.

"Care to dance?"

His soft words matched the soft smile on his face as she nodded her head yes. He lead her out onto the dance floor and placed a hand on her back, his other hand placed in her free one that wasn't resting upon his shoulder like the other. He gracefully led her in the steps even if she knew what she was doing, both of them gliding a crossed the floor and around other couples dancing. Her eye swept around her surroundings that seemed as if they were spinning instead of her and her partner. Their eyes met and even with the soft and relaxed expression on his face she knew that his piercing blue eyes screamed with happiness, something she hadn't seen in them for a few days and she really enjoyed it.

"Enjoying yourself?" He whispered.

"Yes." She replied curtly.

"Good! Nothing beats a Sabertooth party." He chuckled.

"I don't know about that, those few nights in that PhantomLord cell were pretty festive."

The blonde laughed at her sarcasm. He seemed happier now than he did when she caught him dancing with 'fiancée'. She pushed the thought away. She didn't feel like souring her mood with such a thought right now and would rather enjoy her time with the prince in a nice way. He spun her around and pulled her back in and the music stopped after that. She slipped her hand from his thinking they were done only to have it snatched back.

"One more . . . please? I don't want to go back to her."

He sounded sad, something she didn't want to hear. She quickly nodded her head and brought his smile back. The music started up again and like the last one he led the steps and she followed after him. She thought it would be nice to try talking with him at least though she didn't know what to talk about. She just glanced around some more, the male in the pairing next to them smiled at her and she did the same back as the fluff of pink passed by the two. Something was uttered by her partner but it was so low she couldn't hear it. Probably something unpleasant at the least.

"Sting-"

"No no it's fine. Not like I could do much if you choose him, I'm engaged anyway right?"

She knew he would assume that and it hurt her hearing him say such a lie. It also hurt every time he brought up the fact of him belonging to someone else. She just couldn't take it anymore and as much as she disliked ruining the moment she had no choice but to tell him now. She was just worried about making guilty since he had chosen Minerva before she even had a chance to sort everything through.

"Sting I didn't chose him."

He almost tripped over his own feet as he moved hearing her.

"Wha . . . What?"

"I didn't choose Natsu . . . I chose you."

He stopped moving to the music altogether now. They just stood there in the middle of the dance floor while the other couples maneuvered around them, glances of confusion washing a crossed them when they noticed they stopped moving. Artemis shook his shoulder hoping he'd move. If they just stood there in the middle of a dance floor he was going to end up drawing attention to them and she didn't want this turning into a big scene.

"Sting don't just stand there you'll cause a scene." She whispered.

He paid no heed to her words. His hands moved on their own and pulled his arms around her, hugging her tightly to him. His head bent down hiding his face in her hair and she knew that there was no way of avoiding such a scene now. Couples had already stopped moving to look at them, whispers and murmurs coming from every one. It was making the brunette feel uncomfortable in her place as she tried prying the male off of her.

"Why does father have to be so cruel? I didn't want to do this; I never wanted to get engaged at least not to her. He promised me that if I did I could go near you again instead of just sitting outside that door of your's. I got too caught up in the idea of seeing you again I just agreed. Please don't think something different . . . you were the only one I wanted and I regret ever making you feel that you were some trophy in a game I was creating . . . you're so much more than that to me."

The pain in his voice made her crack. She hugged him back whispered that she was sorry for her own mistakes. She could care less about their old argument anymore and was more worried on the fact of starting another one. She quickly let go of him and tried pushing him away again but he just refused to let go of her. An ominous growl echoed behind her causing her to gulp. That triggered Sting to let go of her real quick and she turned herself around, Minerva glowering at her right there as she stood in a full out navy blue dress that was almost as dark as her hair.

"I suggest you keep a tight hold on your son there your highness."

A rough voice came from the edge of the small crowd the two had accumulated. The man that spoke stood next to what seemed to be an ashamed Weisslogia. The man had white hair, braided down his back, and clothes that literally screamed upper class. He had a threatening persona to him just like someone else she knew and Artemis instantly connected this man to Minerva just by that little detail. He must be her father if that were the case. A low growl bubbled up in Sting who still stood beside her, one word coming off his lips quietly, "Jemmia". She guessed that it was the man's name and the blonde wasn't too happy to see him.

"Sting my son you-"

"Don't even. You know why so don't even."

Artemis never expected for Sting to talk to his father in such a way thought the albino didn't seem to be fazed by it whatsoever. Weisslogia let out a long sigh. He looked like he was about ready to give up with his son's stubbornness and if that were the case she'd be more happier that way though not all at once knowing Weisslogia only allowed her with Sting because he couldn't take his son's behavior, not because she had actually showed him that she could be worth something to Sting.

"Prince Sting you are engaged to my daughter your father should have every right to scold you for touching another girl in such a way." The man 'Jemmia' interrupted.

Oh how Artemis would've cower-ed if Sting gave her such a look that he had to Jemmia. Her fingers simply grazed over the young prince's shoulder in an attempt to grab it for he had stalked forward in a violent manner, a stream of shouts and curses leaving his mouth so quickly she was sure not many had even understood a word he had said. The one thing that was able to reach her ears clearly was him screaming for the ring back, the engagement ring he wanted back so he could give it to Artemis instead. Her face flustered incredibly as she buried it in her hands. She was sure everyone crowding them had their eyes attached to her figure now. She just wanted to hide, run and lock herself back up in her room while Sting still continued his ranting in Jemmia's face.

"Miss. Elise! Look out!"

Artemis jumped at the sound of Weisslogia's voice in such panic. She removed her hands from her eyes just in time to see her shadow shifting, a man jumping out of it with quick speed but someone else had been quicker. The blade went through skin and Artemis watched as the white haired man who jumped in between the two fell to the floor, blood oozing from his wound. The ballroom was in a panic quicker than Artemis could process anything. The man who still held the bloody knife quickly vanished within the crowd knowing that if he stayed he wouldn't see light again, not after stabbing the king.

"FATHER!"

Sting slid to the floor and hovered himself over his wounded father. Artemis collapsed on the other side of the man and watched Sting burst into tears. Not caring about running her dress in such a situation she pressed her hands down onto the wound hard trying to stop the bleeding. Working at the clinic for the past three years surly didn't prepare her for such a situation that was for sure. The red liquid stained her hands and it wasn't long before she began to cry herself.

"Father! Father! Say something!"

"S-Sting. . ."

Artemis felt people tripping over her feet as they rushed their way around the ballroom trying to find a way out in hopes of living to see tomorrow. Sting shouted for the medical maids but Artemis knew with everyone in such a chaotic state they would only get caught up in the bustling crowd. She noticed someone run up to them but didn't bother to look up. She knew it was Natsu by the sound of his voice and Sting explained what happened in a hurry. Natsu ran off yelling that he was going to try and find whoever did it, the thought of all of the dragon slayers probably doing the same once they knew what had happened ran through her mind.

"Artemis what-"

"Sh! I need to think Sting just . . . give me a minute." The brunette growled frustrated.

"We don't have a minute! My father's dying!"

"I know that! I'm trying Sting . . . I'm really trying."

She leaned down, her forehead pressing against her stained hands that still covered the wound. She listened to Weisslogia try to sooth his son who kept shouting about how he refused to let his father go. Meanwhile in her head the brunette prayed silently for a miracle, a way to rapid heal Weisslogia.

'_Rapidly heal'_.

Her thought's drifted back to the times she thought her wounds healed faster than they should have, when she scraped her knee as a child, and simply when she had been taking a shower this morning and she felt herself getting cut while shaving. She wished something like that could happen now, that she could rapidly heal Weisslogia and save him from his impending fate of death.

"A-Artemis!?"

Her name came from Sting's voice in a stuttering whisper, a shocked one that was. She lifted her head and saw what had him so amazed. It was the turquoise light emerging from her hands. She had no clue what she was doing but it felt like it was helping her. She pushed her hands down harder hearing the king grunt out in pain. She whispered a sorry and focused more on the energy in her hands. I different kind of magic from her shield, she felt happy that crating barriers wasn't the only thing she was capable of doing with her magic. When she lifted her hands she realized that she had healed his wound, not completely but enough that it had stopped bleeding and shrunk ever so slightly. _'Healing magic'_, she thought, _'suits someone who has worked in a clinic for three years.'_

"Father!"

"I-I'm fine now Sting."

"Sting!"

Artemis's head shot up. It was Rogue and he seemed panicked but of course Artemis knew he would be in such a situation. Next to him though stood a girl, brown locks of hair and hazel eyes made up her features. Artemis couldn't help but stare at her and realize that this was the girl who she had been chasing in the garden and had seen out on the dance floor.

_The one that looked so much like Artemis herself._

"Artemis what is it?" Sting's voice came out concerned as his gaze slid between both brunettes.

As suddenly this girl has a shine come to her eyes, hand raised towards her mouth with a gasp suddenly whispering towards the younger prince:

"Ryos. . .that's my cousin."


End file.
